Kenyan fossil hunter and environmentalist Richard Leakey dies at 77

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“I was angry until now that they took the bone from me because it was so important for a 4-year-old to dig,” he said.

After deciding to pursue fossil hunting, he first sought a degree in anthropology in London, but before he could start, he ran out of money and returned to Kenya to learn about the subject firsthand. Of course, he already had more experience in the field than most graduate anthropologists.

Leakey eventually returned to the classroom when he gained a reputation as a fossil hunter and became a sought-after lecturer. His speeches attracted a large fee-paying crowd of both enthusiastic students and established scholars.

He liked to say that he never went to college, except to lecture.

According to WildlifeDirect, the survivors include his wife, Meave, who is also a renowned paleoanthropologist, and their daughters, Louise and Samira. Professor Martin also said that he has three grandchildren.

Mr. Leakey strongly believed that the past was “the key to our future,” in a message his father wrote long ago. Paige Madison, a Copenhagen-based historian of paleoanthropology, said that for her, paleoanthropology and conservation were “deeply intertwined.”

Toward the end of his life, Mr. Leakey dreamed of building a museum of humanity. Ngaren. It would be located in Kenya’s Rift Valley, where one of his most famous discoveries, Turkana Boy, is located.

“Ngaren is not just a museum, it is a call to action,” Mr Leakey said in a speech in 2019. Declaration Announcing its opening, scheduled for 2024. “When we look at the fossil record, layer by layer of long-extinct species, many of which have survived far longer than the human species could, we are reminded that we are mortal. a kind of.”

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