GOMBE, Tanzania – Dr. Jane Goodall, the pioneering primatologist whose groundbreaking research revolutionized the understanding of chimpanzees and human evolution, has died at the age of 91.
Goodall, who spent more than six decades studying wild chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park, fundamentally changed how scientists view animal intelligence and behavior. Her discovery that chimpanzees make and use tools challenged the prevailing notion that tool-making was uniquely human.
CBS News honored Goodall’s legacy by re-airing a 2018 60 Minutes segment showing the conservationist enjoying one of her favorite annual rituals: watching the sandhill crane migration along Nebraska’s Platte River with wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen.
“The first time I learned about this amazing migration of sandhill cranes was in an airline magazine,” Goodall said in the segment. “From that moment, I thought, I really want to see this amazing spectacle.”
The footage showed Goodall and Mangelsen, longtime friends, sharing drinks at Mangelsen’s father’s cabin while observing thousands of cranes flying overhead in their distinctive V-formation. The pair discussed how younger birds take the lead positions in flight formations while older, more experienced birds conserve energy at the back.
“Cranes have it figured out. Flap, glide. Flap, glide,” Mangelsen noted as they watched the migration.
Goodall’s work began in 1960 when anthropologist Louis Leakey sent her to Gombe to study wild chimpanzees. Without formal scientific training at the time, she developed innovative research methods, giving the animals names instead of numbers and documenting their individual personalities.
Her observations revealed that chimpanzees have complex social structures, can experience emotions like joy and grief, and engage in behaviors once thought exclusive to humans, including warfare and adoption.
Born in London in 1934, Goodall became one of the few scientists without a college degree to earn a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to support wildlife research, conservation and education.
In her later years, Goodall shifted focus to advocacy and education, traveling the world to speak about environmental conservation and animal welfare. Her Roots & Shoots youth program operates in more than 50 countries.
“Everybody thinks my favorite animal is a chimp,” Goodall joked in the 60 Minutes segment. “It’s a dog.”
The conservationist received numerous honors throughout her career, including being named a United Nations Messenger of Peace and receiving the French Legion of Honor.
Details about survivors and memorial arrangements were not immediately available.
