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Jane Goodall , the world-renowned primatologist and chimpanzee expert, has died ... according to a statement posted to her official Instagram account.

According to a statement released by the Jane Goodall Institute ... Jane passed away Wednesday morning in California while on a speaking tour of the United States.

The intistitute states she died of natural causes but does not specify beyond that.

Dr. Goodall spoke at The Plaza Hotel in New York City one week ago ... and, she was set to speak at a nearly sold-out event in Los Angeles this upcoming Friday.

Jane was one of the world's first female experts on primates, beginning her career by making a trip to Kenya to visit a friend in 1957 and connecting with palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis

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