Richard Leakey
Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakeyis a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and politician. He is second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey, and is the younger half-brother of Colin Leakey...
NationalityKenyan
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth19 December 1944
CityNairobi, Kenya
CountryKenya
counts ground hold
Baboons, for example, live on the ground as well as in the trees, where they try to get hold of birds' eggs. What counts is the right balance.
devote minds secure
Let us devote our minds - the one thing we have more of than other apes - and let's secure their future.
elephants kenya lived problem
Earlier, 100,000 elephants lived in Kenya and we didn't have any noteworthy problem with it. The problem that we have is not that there are now more elephants.
african bodies both bring concern expressed loss possible pressure species terrible unless venue
There should be concern expressed at every possible venue to bring pressure on both the African governments and on the international bodies to do something about this. Unless this is stopped, these species could become extinct, and it would be a terrible loss to humanity.
absolutely animals closest imagine longer
The slaughter of chimpanzees and gorillas, our closest relatives, is absolutely diabolical. I can't imagine that this can go on much longer before these animals are extinct,
across age area continue elephants good run
Elephants can live to an age of up to 70 or 80 years and they have a good memory. It could be they come across an area that is experiencing a drought. Then they continue on their path and run into people.
exchange greatly number scientists
A number of scientists with greatly different backgrounds can come up with completely different assessments. The discussions or controversies are endless. Once a year, we try to bring the most important discoverers together to exchange their experiences and knowledge.
few items pieces surviving
One should not forget that there are very few surviving items from this period, often just single, small bones, a tooth, a sliver of the skull. Categorizing these pieces can be very difficult.
complete east guess hazard history human less played prelude primarily remains south thousand
I would hazard a guess that we have found fossilized human remains of at least a thousand different specimens in South and East Africa, more or less complete at that. I think this is where the prelude to human history was primarily played out.
vast
I can't think of any other region in the world which is such a vast source of fossils.
convinced
I, too, am convinced that our ancestors came from Africa.
area groups hundred men settled
We think that groups of between 30 and 40 early men would have settled in an area measuring a hundred square kilometers.
concerned few found human nowhere
We are concerned that, in a few years time, this place of discovery, with its wealth of human fossils, the like of which can be found nowhere else in the world, could be completely destroyed.
bit capital cattle fertile herds land larger represents
The land is not in the least bit fertile and yet the cattle herds grow larger and larger. A cow represents capital investment here.