Richard Leakey

Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (born December 19, 1944), is a paleontologist, archaeologist and an activist, famous for his discovery of "Turkana Boy" and his fight to preserve wildlife of the African continent.

Life

Richard Leakey is the second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on December 19, 1944. A high school dropout, Leakey discovered his love of paleontology when he led an expedition to a fossil site he had discovered while flying. Frustrated by the lack of recognition he received for his accomplishments due to having no scientific credentials, Leakey left for England to continue his education. However, after six months, and the completion of his high school program, Leakey returned home to continue his safaris and work at the National Museum of Kenya. He never obtained a university degree.

In 1966, Leakey married archeologist, Margaret Cooper, and started to work on excavations. Although lacking a formal education, he benefited from the fame of his well-known parents. He received funds from the National Geographic Society to carry out his research. His first major involvement in fossil-hunting began in 1967, at the Lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia. In 1968, he became director of the National Museum of Kenya, a position formerly held by his father. He continued with excavations near Lake Turkana in Kenya. In 1969, the discovery of a cranium of Australopithecus boisei caused great excitement. A Homo habilis skull (ER 1470) and a Homo erectus skull (ER 3733), discovered in 1972 and 1975, respectively, were among the most significant finds of Leakey's early expeditions. In 1978, an intact cranium of Homo erectus (KNM-ER 3883) was discovered.

In 1969, he divorced Margaret and remarried to Maeve Epps, a paleontologist who became famous for her discovery of Kenyanthropus platyops in 1974. He has two daughters from this marriage.

In 1969, Leakey was diagnosed with a terminal kidney disease and the illness caused him to slow down his work, focusing on running Kenya’s museum system. In 1979, Leakey’s condition worsened and he had to receive a kidney transplant from his brother, Philip, in order to . After a long recovery Leakey continued with his work, both on excavations and in the museum. In 1984, he found what turned to be the greatest find of his career—a fossil of "Turkana boy." The next year he found his second big find, the first skull of a new species: Australopithecus aethiopicus.

In the later years of his life Leakey became more interested in politics than in paleontology. In 1989, he was appointed head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) by President Daniel Arap Moi, in response to the international outcry over the poaching of elephants and the impact it was having on Kenyan wildlife. With characteristically bold steps, Leakey created special, well-armed, anti-poaching units that were authorized to shoot poachers on sight. The poaching menace was dramatically reduced. Impressed by Leakey's transformation of the KWS, the World Bank approved grants worth $140 million. Richard Leakey, President Arap Moi, and the KWS made international news headlines when a stockpile of 12 tons of ivory was burned in 1989.

In 1993, Richard Leakey lost both his legs when his propeller-driven plane crashed. Sabotage was suspected, but never proved. In a few months Richard Leakey was walking again on artificial limbs. Around this time, the Kenyan government announced that a secret probe had found evidence of corruption and mismanagement in the KWS. An annoyed Leakey resigned publicly in a press conference in January 1994. He wrote about his experiences at the KWS in his book Wildlife Wars: My Battle to Save Kenya's Elephants.

In May 1995, Leakey joined a group of Kenyan intellectuals in launching a new political party—the Safina Party. Their main agenda was to battle corruption in Kenyan government. "If KANU and Mr. Moi will do something about the deterioration of public life, corruption and mismanagement, I'd be happy to fight alongside them. If they won't, I want somebody else to do it." announced Richard Leakey. The Safina party was routinely harassed and even its application to become an official political party was not approved until 1997. Leakey’s relationship with president Moi seriously deteriorated

In 1999, Moi was forced to appoint Richard Leakey as Cabinet Secretary and overall head of the civil service at the insistence of international donor institutions as a pre-condition for the resumption of donor funds. Leakey's second stint in the civil service lasted until 2001, when he was forced to resign again. He was accused of an arrogant and autocratic style of leadership and racism. After that he left politics, but continued to fight against corruption through public speeches and lectures. Additionally, although no longer active in fieldwork, he continued to give lectures and write books about the danger of environmental degradation and the need for wildlife preservation.

Work

"Turkana Boy," discovered in 1984, by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of Leakeys' team, was the nearly complete skeleton of a 12-year-old (or possibly 9-year-old) Homo erectus who died 1.6 million years ago. It was one of the first well-preserved skeletons of that origin ever found. Leakey and Roger Lewin described the experience of this find in their book Origins Reconsidered (1992). Shortly after the discovery of Turkana Boy, Leakey and his team made the discovery of a skull of a new species, Australopithecus aethiopicus (WT 17000). Both discoveries were important in establishing the theory of African origins of human beings.

Richard Leakey is also a well known activist and politician. His confrontational approach to the issue of human-wildlife conflict in national parks did not win him friends. He espoused the view that the parks were self-contained ecosystems that had to be fenced in and humans kept out. Leakey's bold and incorruptible nature also offended many local politicians. Although his fight against corruption in Kenyan government caused him to be threatened and beaten numerous times, he never gave up.

Legacy

Building upon the legacy of his parents, Richard Leakey has contributed toward the understanding of the human evolution. His discovery of one of the most complete skeletons ever found, the "Turkana boy," as well as the new species of Australopithecus aethiopicus, were important finds that established human origins in Africa.

As an activist, Leakey fought for more than thirty years for wildlife preservation, addressing the danger of environmental deterioration. In the political arena, he fought against corruption in his native Kenya.

His wife, Meave, continues to be a successful paleoanthropologist, discovering several new species, including Australopithecus anamensis, and Kenyanthropus platyops. Their daughter, Louise, continues in her parents’ steps, having completed a Ph.D. in paleontology in 2001.

Publications

• Leakey Richard. 1984. One Life: An Autobiography. Salem House Publishers. ISBN 0881620556

• Leakey Richard. 1993. Man-ape, ape-man: The quest for human's place in nature and Dubois' “missing link”. Netherlands Foundation for Kenya Wildlife Service. ISBN 9026312857

• Leakey Richard. 1996. The Origin of Humankind. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0465053130

• Leakey, Richard & King Preston. 1987. An African Winter. Puffin. ISBN 0140523650

• Leakey Richard. 2003. Great Civilizations. Fog City Press. ISBN 1877019291

• Leakey Richard & Lewin Roger. 1991. Origins : The Emergence and Evolution of Our Species and Its Possible Future. Penguin Press. ISBN 0140153365

• Leakey Richard & Lewin Roger. 1992. Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human. Anchor. ISBN 0385467923

• Leakey Richard & Lewin Roger. 1995. The Sixth Extinction. Mass Extinction Underway

• Leakey Richard & Morell Virginia. 2002. Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312303343

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Morell Virginia. 1996. Ancestral passions: The Leakey family and the quest for humankind's beginnings. Touchstone. ISBN 0684824701

• Poynter, Margaret. 2001. The Leakeys: Uncovering the Origins of Humankind. Enslow Publishers. ISBN 0766018733

• Willis, Delta. 1992. The Leakey Family: Leaders in the Search for Human Origins. Facts on File. ISBN 081602605X

External links

• Leakey Foundation – Official website of Leakey Foundation

• Richard Leakey - Biography

• Leakey.com – 100 years of Leakeys’ work in East Africa

• Koobi Fora Research Project – Project in Turkana Basin in Northern Kenya

• Johanson, Donald C. 1999. The Leakey Family. Time, March 29

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