07.15.22Announcing the 2022 Francis H. Brown African Scholars
Grants The Leakey Foundation proudly announces the 2022 Francis H. Brown African Scholars, Georgina Luti and Venanzio Munyaka.
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07.15.22
01.13.20Introducing Our Fall 2019 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation We are pleased to announce the recipients of our fall 2019 research grants. This granting cycle, The Leakey Foundation is supporting the research of 27 scientists working at field sites and in laboratories around the world.
06.05.19Introducing the 2019 Baldwin Fellows
Grants The Leakey Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the 2019 Franklin Mosher Baldwin Memorial Fellowships and the Baldwin Fellowship Funded by the National Geographic Society.
06.05.19Introducing Our Spring 2019 Grantees
Grants On May 4, 2019, The Leakey Foundation's board of trustees unanimously approved 35 grant proposals for funding. We are proud to introduce our spring 2019 research grant recipients, and we look forward to sharing news and information about them and their research.
03.20.19Cleveland Here We Come: The Leakey Foundation Attends AAPA 2019!
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The 88th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physical Anthropologists will be held March 27-30, 2019, in Cleveland, Ohio. Several Leakey Foundation staff members will be attending the meeting to share information about our grant programs, and more.
01.24.19Introducing Our Fall 2018 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation is proud to announce the 32 recipients of our fall 2018 research grants.
08.15.18The Great Migration
Grants, The Leakey Foundation We are happy to report The Leakey Foundation's grants department has now migrated to the cloud version of our granting software, Grantmaking. Read on to learn more about some of the changes you may experience moving forward.
08.07.18Grantee Spotlight: Steffen Mischke
Grantee Spotlight Steffen Mischke of the University of Iceland, Reykjavík, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2017 cycle for his project entitled "Environment of early hominins outside of Africa: The Nihewan Basin."
07.24.18Grantee Spotlight: Kevin Hatala
Grantee Spotlight Kevin Hatala is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Chatham University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our fall 2017 cycle for his project entitled “Paleoecological investigation of 1.5 Ma footprint sites near Nariokotome, Kenya.”
07.10.18Grantee Spotlight: Stephanie Musgrave
Grantee Spotlight Stephanie Musgrave, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Ontogeny of complex tool use among Goualougo Triangle chimpanzees."
06.26.18From the Field: Mae Goder-Goldberger, Israel
From the Field Mae Goder-Goldberger, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled "The site of Far'ah II, western Negev, and the MP-UP transition."
06.12.18Grantee Spotlight: Meagan Vakiener
Grantee Spotlight Meagan Vakiener was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2017 for her project entitled "Weaned age in gorillas using trace element distributions in teeth." She is a PhD candidate at George Washington University.
06.06.18Introducing the 2018 Baldwin Fellows
Grants, The Leakey Foundation, Baldwin Fellows This spring we awarded a record number of Baldwin Fellowships. The prestigious Franklin Mosher Baldwin Fellowship was established in 1978 to provide scholars from developing countries with the opportunity to receive training abroad in the fields of paleoanthropology and primatology. The spring 2018 Baldwin Fellows include scholars from Ethiopia, India, Iran, South Africa, and Tanzania.
06.06.18Introducing Our Spring 2018 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held our spring 2018 granting session on May 5, 2018. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved 30 research grant proposals for funding.
05.29.18Grantee Spotlight: Emma Finestone
Grantee Spotlight Emma Finestone is a PhD candidate from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled "Examining the Oldowan through time on the Homa Peninsula."
05.15.18From the Field: Rachel Perlman, Ethiopia
From the Field Rachel Perlman was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “The energetics of male reproductive strategies in geladas (Theropithecus gelada).” Here she updates us on her field work in Ethiopia.
04.15.18From the Field: Kelsey Pugh
From the Field Kelsey Pugh was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “Mid-Late miocene hominoid phylogeny: Implications for ape and human evolution.”
04.06.18Happy Birthday Leakey Foundation!
The Leakey Foundation, 50th Anniversary Did you know that April 8th is the anniversary of The Leakey Foundation's first board meeting in 1968? This makes for the perfect time to launch festivities for The Leakey Foundation's 50th anniversary!
04.03.18From the Field: Julie Lesnik
From the Field Julie Lesnik was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled “An evaluation of termite-associated hydrocarbon signatures as an influence on prey selectivity and an ecological signal for chimpanzees and Olduvai hominins.”
03.27.18Grantee Spotlight: Marianne Brasil
Grantee Spotlight The timing, location, and circumstances of the origin of modern humans has long been of interest, and ongoing studies continue to refine our understanding of early modern human evolution. Leakey Foundation grantee Marianne Brasil is a PhD candidate from the University of California at Berkeley who is studying the skeletal morphology of early Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia.
03.20.18From the Field: Joel Bray, Tanzania
From the Field Joel Bray, a graduate student at Arizona State University, is studying the development of male-male social relationships in chimpanzees at Gombe National Park, Tanzania.
03.13.18From the Field: Carrie Miller, Ethiopia
From the Field Carrie Miller was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled “Does paternity certainty elicit protection and support of offspring by male gelada monkeys?”
02.27.18Grantee Spotlight: Sam Patterson
Grantee Spotlight Sam Patterson, PhD candidate from Arizona State University, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for the project entitled "Maternal predictors of infant developmental trajectories in olive baboons."
02.13.18From the Field: Hilary Duke, Kenya
From the Field Hilary Duke was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the fall of 2016 for her project entitled "Taking shape: Investigating the earliest Acheulean at Kokiselei, Kenya (1.8-1.76Ma)." Last year we shared a summary of her work. Here she updates us on her progress!
01.16.18Primate Tales: Edgar and the Appearance of Pyrrhic Victory in Biology
Primate Tales For more than four years, the alpha male in the Mitumba community of chimpanzees in Gombe National Park has been Edgar, a ruler with an iron fist if ever there was one.
01.10.18Introducing Our Fall 2017 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held our fall 2017 granting session on December 2, 2017. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved twenty-three research grant proposals for funding.
01.09.18Grantee Spotlight: Thomas Plummer
Grantee Spotlight Thomas Plummer is a professor of anthropology at Queens College, City University of New York, and a member of the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our spring 2017 cycle for his project entitled “Excavation of ca. 2.6 Ma Oldowan sites at Nyayanga, Kenya.”
01.02.18Grantee Spotlight: Sean Lee
Grantee Spotlight How can chimpanzees and bonobos help us understand human evolution? Leakey Foundation grantee Sean Lee is collecting data on behavioral development and physical growth from wild populations of chimpanzees and bonobos in order to study how behavioral differences evolved in these species.
12.26.17Grantee Spotlight: Deming Yang
Grantee Spotlight What can fossil pig teeth teach us about human evolution? Deming Yang is a PhD candidate from Stony Brook University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for his project entitled "Isotopic variability among Plio-Pleistocene Turkana suids: Paleoenvironments and hominin evolution."
12.19.17Grantee Spotlight: Megan Petersdorf
Grantee Spotlight Megan Petersdorf is a PhD candidate from New York University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled "The reproductive ecology of the little-known Kinda baboon."
12.12.17From the Field: Abigale Koppa, Kenya
From the Field Abigale Koppa was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Nutritional and mechanical properties of Kenyan savanna and wetland plants."
12.05.17From the Field: Nicole Herzog, Senegal
From the Field What do chimpanzees do after a fire? Nicole Herzog was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Chimpanzees in fire-altered landscapes: Investigating foundations for hominin fire exploitation."
11.07.17Grantee Spotlight: David Samson
Grantee Spotlight David Samson is from the University of Toronto, Mississauga. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring cycle for his project entitled "What drives sleep flexibility? A comparative investigation of circumpolar and equatorial hunter-gatherers."
10.31.17Grantee Spotlight: Carrie Miller
Grantee Spotlight Carrie Miller is a PhD candidate from the University of Minnesota. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled "Does paternity certainty elicit protection and support of offspring by male gelada monkeys?"
10.24.17Grantee Spotlight: Elaine Guevara
Grantee Spotlight Elaine Guevara was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2017 cycle for her project entitled "Epigenetics of primate longevity."
10.19.17Grantee Spotlight: Joel Bray
Grantee Spotlight Joel Bray is a PhD candidate from Arizona State University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation Grant to study the role of development and early social experiences in male chimpanzee social behavior.
10.17.17From the Field: Kristin Sabbi, Uganda
From the Field Kristin Sabbi was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle. Here she updates us on her third field season in Kibale National Park, Uganda.
10.12.17Grantee Spotlight: Laura Abondano
Grantee Spotlight We are excited to begin sharing the work of our spring 2017 grantees! Here we have Laura Abondano, who was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for her project entitled "Mating strategies of female lowland woolly monkeys in Amazonian Ecuador."
10.11.17A Giant Advantage: Baseball in Our Bones
Guest Post, Science Speakeasy Guest blogger Rebecca O’Neill shares her impressions of our July 12th installment of Science Speakeasy, A Giant Advantage: Baseball in Our Bones.
09.28.17From the Field: Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico
From the Field Leakey Foundation grantee Erica Dunayer has provided us with a post-hurricane Maria update from Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico.
09.06.17Primate Tales: Scarlet, Booker, and Jolie
Primate Tales Rachna Reddy was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle. Here we have a short story about a few of the chimps Rachna has been following in Kibale National Park, Uganda.
08.24.17From the Field: Matt Tocheri, Indonesia
From the Field Matt Tocheri was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2016 cycle for his project entitled “New archaeological excavations at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia)." Here he updates us on the beginning of his 2017 field season.
08.10.17Grantee Spotlight: Matt Tocheri
Grantee Spotlight Matt Tocheri was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2016 cycle for his project entitled “New archaeological excavations at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia).”
08.07.17From the Field: Kathryn McGrath
From the Field Kathryn McGrath was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “Understanding stress-related enamel defects in wild mountain gorillas.” Here she updates us on her progress.
08.03.17Primate Tales: The Story of Moth, a White-Faced Capuchin
Primate Tales The first installment of our Primate Tales series is the story of Moth, a male capuchin monkey that lives in Costa Rica. Moth was born into Rambo’s group in 1992. The circumstances of his birth were somewhat unusual, as he is one of very few individuals born into this population who was not sired by the alpha male.
08.01.17Write for Us!
The Leakey Foundation, Support Us Are you a Leakey Foundation grantee and are interested in writing for us? Check out this post and learn about opportunities to share your work!
07.13.17The Fall Grant Deadline Approaches!
Grants Our grants department is already receiving plenty of inquiries and quite a few letters of recommendation for our PhD candidate applicants, so I know there is a lot of grant writing going on around the world right now. While you get those proposals submitted, I thought I would share with you a few pointers.
07.11.17Science Speakeasy – Out of This World: From Caves to Space
Guest Post, Science Speakeasy Humans have an uncanny desire to explore the unknown. I think most of us can recall times where we’ve felt that curiosity to see what’s around that next corner or behind that dark door. Some of us follow that urge even further to go where no man (or woman) has been before, which leads them to some extreme situations.
06.21.17From the Field: Marie-Hélène Moncel, Italy
From the Field Marie-Hélène Moncel was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “Early evidence of Acheulean bifacial technology in Europe. New fieldwork at Notarchirico (Italy).”
06.15.17Introducing the 2017 Baldwin Fellows
Grants, The Leakey Foundation Franklin Mosher Baldwin Memorial Fellowships are awarded to graduate students who are from developing countries and would like to pursue training and/or education abroad.
06.13.17From the Field: Julien Louys, Sumatra
From the Field In 1887 M. Eugène Dubois set out to what was then the Dutch East Indies in search of the missing link. More than a century later, Leakey Foundation Grantee Julien Louys followed in Dubois' footsteps to look for fossils in the caves of Sumatra.
06.07.17Introducing Our Spring 2017 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held our spring 2017 granting session on April 29, 2017. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved thirty research grant proposals for funding.
04.11.17From the Field: Jason Lewis
From the Field Last year we introduced you to Leakey Foundation Research grantee Jason Lewis who was awarded during our spring 2016 cycle for his project entitled "Pleistocene & Holocene archaeological assemblages from Kisese II Shelter, Tanzania." Here he updates us on his team's progress!
04.07.17Spring Granting Cycle Update
Grants, The Leakey Foundation I am sure many of you who have applied this spring are wondering what is going on over there at The Leakey Foundation. So, I thought I would tell you about the different stages of our spring cycle and give you an idea of where we are right now.
04.05.17Grantee Spotlight: Meike Zemihn
Grantee Spotlight Language is one of the prime facets of human nature and distinguishes us from other species. Nevertheless, its evolutionary origins are still largely unknown. What makes human language unique and why are we the only species that has it? Meike Zemihn is a Leakey Foundation grantee who is working to trace the origins of language.
03.23.17Rock Art of Pachmarhi Hills in India
Guest Post, Travel Guest blogger Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak shares her experiences exploring the rock paintings of India.
03.21.17Grantee Spotlight: Ron Shimelmitz
Grantee Spotlight Ron Shimelmitz is a research fellow at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our summer 2016 cycle for his project entitled "New excavations at Skhul Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel."
03.07.17Grantee Spotlight: Liza Moscovice
Grantee Spotlight Liza Moscovice was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Explaining patterns of within and between-group cooperation among LuiKotale bonobos."
02.28.17Grantee Spotlight: Thierry Smith
Grantee Spotlight Thierry Smith is a research team leader at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our fall 2016 cycle for his project entitled “Diversity and relationships of earliest Euprimates from Tadkeshwar Mine, India.”
02.21.17Erin Vogel at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Leakey Foundation, Speaker Series Who doesn’t love orangutans? These highly intelligent, critically endangered great apes that live in the tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo have faces with such character, such personality, they always make for great, powerful pictures.
02.21.17Grantee Spotlight: Emma Mbua
Grantee Spotlight Emma Mbua is a Kenyan paleoanthropologist who has been working at Kantis Fossil Site (KFS), a paleontological site on the outskirts of Nairobi in Kenya which has been dated to 3.5 million years old.
02.14.17Grantee Spotlight: Piotr Fedurek
Grantee Spotlight Piotr Fedurek is a PhD candidate from the University of Roehampton. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2016 cycle for his project entitled "The effect of social integration on physiological stress levels in a small-scale society."
02.13.17The Survival Symposium Videos Are Now Online!
The Leakey Foundation, Video, Survival In September 2016 The Leakey Foundation brought together seven world-renowned speakers and researchers for a series of short talks focusing on evolution and the challenges of building a better, safer and more survivable future.
02.07.17Grantee Spotlight: Hilary Duke
Grantee Spotlight Hilary Duke is a PhD candidate from Stony Brook University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Taking shape: Investigating the earliest Acheulean at Kokiselei, Kenya (1.8-1.76Ma)."
02.01.17From the Field: Maura Tyrrell in Indonesia
From the Field Maura Tyrrell was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2014 cycle for her project entitled "Effect of competition on male coalition patterns in crested macaques."
01.31.17From the Field: Marco Peresani, University of Ferrara
From the Field Marco Peresani was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2015 cycle for his project entitled "Rediscovering the Uluzzian in Italy."
01.24.17Introducing the Recipient of the 2016 Gordon Getty Grant: Margaret Crofoot
Grants, The Leakey Foundation In December 2016 the Gordon P. Getty Grant was awarded to Margaret Crofoot for her project entitled "Dominance, social stability and the emergence of collective decisions in complex societies."
01.19.17Video: Tania Lombrozo, The Primates Who Tell Stories
Video, Being Human Check out the video from our March 2016 Being Human event featuring Tania Lombrozo: The Primates Who Tell Stories.
01.11.17Introducing Our Fall 2016 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held its Fall Granting Session on December 3, 2016. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved twenty-one research grant proposals for funding this cycle.
01.09.17The Grant Application Deadline Approaches!
Grants, The Leakey Foundation While you get those proposals submitted, I thought I would share with you a few pointers based on some of the questions we have received.
01.03.17Grantee Spotlight: Marie-Hélène Moncel
Grantee Spotlight Marie-Hélène Moncel is a director of research at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Early evidence of Acheulean bifacial technology in Europe. New fieldwork at Notarchirico (Italy)."
12.29.16Grantee Spotlight: Rachna Reddy
Grantee Spotlight Rachna Reddy is a PhD candidate from the University of Michigan. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "The development of male reproductive strategies in wild chimpanzees."
12.27.16From the Field: Laurence Dumouchel
From the Field Laurence Dumouchel is a PhD candidate from George Washington University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2016, and she was kind enough to send us an update on her progress as well as an insight into how she works.
12.20.16From the Field: Dorothée Drucker
From the Field My work takes place in the lab where bone samples are prepared for isotopic analysis. To reconstruct diet, carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 are measured to establish the origin of the dietary proteins. Collagen, the main protein in bone, is extracted from the bone sample after several steps of cleaning and purification.
12.15.16Grantee Spotlight: Rachel Perlman
Grantee Spotlight Rachel Perlman is a PhD candidate from Stony Brook University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "The energetics of male reproductive strategies in geladas (Theropithecus gelada)."
11.28.16The Holidays are Here!
The Leakey Foundation, Support Us Now is the perfect time to make a gift to The Leakey Foundation in support of science. Two generous donors have offered the foundation a matching challenge! Every donation made to The Leakey Foundation will be matched 1:1 up to one million dollars.
11.22.16Grantee Spotlight: Jason Lewis
Grantee Spotlight Jason E. Lewis is a Research Assistant Professor wth the Turkana Basin Institute and Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant for his project entitled “Pleistocene & Holocene archaeological assemblages from Kisese II Shelter, Tanzania.”
11.15.16Grantee Spotlight: Laurence Dumouchel
Grantee Spotlight Laurence Dumouchel is a PhD candidate from George Washington University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2016 for her project entitled "The environments of the earliest obligate biped, Australopithecus anamensis." Here we have a summary of her work.
11.10.16From the Field: Ekwoge Abwe, Cameroon
From the Field Spring 2016 grantee Ekwoge Abwe has shared some news from the field!
11.08.16Grantee Spotlight: Katharine Burke
Grantee Spotlight Katharine Burke is a PhD candidate from the University at Buffalo. In the spring of 2016 she was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant for her project entitled “Social network, personality and physiological stress levels in juvenile rhesus.” Here she has provided us with a summary of her work. I am investigating possible links between social support, personality and stress buffering… more »
11.04.16Grantee Spotlight: Ekwoge Abwe
Grantee Spotlight Ekwoge Abwe was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for his project entitled "Behavioral diversity with genetic and ecological variation in chimpanzees, Cameroon." Here he gives us a summary of his project. Stay tuned for news from the field!
11.01.16New Videos Just Released!
The Leakey Foundation, Speaker Series, Being Human Did you miss one of our recent Leakey Foundation events? Or maybe you want to re-watch one of the events you attended? We are pleased to announce that we have just released many of the videos from our Being Human event series held in 2015 and 2016!
10.27.16From the Field: Thomas Kraft
From the Field Thomas Kraft was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for his project entitled "Shifting co-residence and interaction patterns in a transitioning hunter-gatherer society." Here he updates us on his latest field season.
10.26.16In Defense of Science
The Leakey Foundation As I helped put together our issue-based fundraising appeal letter last week, I was struck by the sentence at the top of the page. “Science is under attack in the 21st century.” This is not to imply that this is something new. Science was under attack in the last century and the century before as well. The implication is that science is STILL under attack, and that is what’s unsettling to me. I ask, still?
10.25.16Feeding Transitions in Wild Infant Chimpanzees
Journal Article Iulia Badescu was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled "Investigating the infant nutritional development of wild chimpanzees." She was recently published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and she was kind enough to summarize the article for our Leakey Foundation Blog.
10.20.16From the Field: Alecia Carter
From the Field The Leakey Foundation awarded Alecia Carter a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2016 for her project entitled "Constraints on the evolution of culture: Social information in Namibian baboons." Below she updates us on her 2016 field season.
10.11.16Grantee Spotlight: Thomas Kraft
Grantee Spotlight Thomas Kraft was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for his project entitled "Shifting co-residence and interaction patterns in a transitioning hunter-gatherer society."
10.06.16Grantee Spotlight: Alecia Carter
Grantee Spotlight Alecia Carter was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Constraints on the Evolution of Culture: Social Information in Namibian Baboons.”
10.04.16From the Field: Mathew Fox
From the Field Mathew Fox was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research grant in the spring of 2016 for his project entitled “Paleoenvironments of Homo erectus occupations in the Luonan Basin, China." Here he updates us on his 2016 field season.
09.08.16Grantee Spotlight: Stephanie Bogart
Grantee Spotlight Leakey Foundation grantee Stephani Bogart is part of a team that has established a new long-term research site in Senegal’s Niokolo Koba National Park to study how chimpanzees adapt to a savanna environment
09.06.16From the Field: Genevieve Housman
From the Field Genevieve Housman was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled "Assessment of DNA methylation patterns in primate skeletal tissues." Here she updates us on her progress.
08.30.16Grantee Spotlight: Mathew Fox
Grantee Spotlight Mathew Fox, PhD candidate from the University of Arizona, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for his project entitled "Paleoenvironments of Homo erectus occupations in the Luonan Basin, China."
08.23.16Grantee Spotlight: Rebecca Miller
Grantee Spotlight Rebecca Miller of the University of Liege was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for her project entitled "The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition at Trou Al'Wesse in Belgium."
08.18.16Video: The Secret Lives of Female Chimpanzees
The Leakey Foundation, Speaker Series, Video On August 17, The Leakey Foundation in partnership with the Chicago Council of Science and Technology (C2ST) presented “The Secret Lives of Female Chimpanzees” with guest speaker Melissa Emery Thompson.
08.17.16Grantee Spotlight: Evelyn Pain
Grantee Spotlight Evelyn Pain is currently a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Functions of male woolly monkey morphological variation in Yasuní, Ecuador."
07.27.16Grantee Spotlight: Amy Lu
Grantee Spotlight Dr. Amy Lu is an assistant professor at Stony Brook University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled "Understanding weaning trajectories in a wild primate - the gelada."
07.20.16Grantee Spotlight: Kelsey Pugh
Grantee Spotlight Kelsey Pugh was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “Mid-Late miocene hominoid phylogeny: Implications for ape and human evolution.” She is a PhD candidate from the City University of New York. The living great apes, humans, and their fossil relatives (hominids) are among the most intensively studied mammals, yet many aspects… more »
07.13.16Grantee Spotlight: Nicole Thompson
Grantee Spotlight Nicole Thompson is a PhD candidate at Columbia University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “The benefits of social connections during development in blue monkeys in Kakamega, Kenya.” We (primates) have strongly differentiated social relationships — not all social partners are created equal, and whom we associate… more »
07.05.16Grantee Spotlight: Kathryn McGrath
Grantee Spotlight Kathryn McGrath was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for her project entitled "Understanding stress-related enamel defects in wild mountain gorillas."
06.28.16Grantee Spotlight: Kristin Sabbi
Grantee Spotlight Kristin Sabbi was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the spring of 2016 for her project entitled "The ontogeny of sex-typed social behavior among East African chimpanzees."
06.21.16Grantee Spotlight: Erica Dunayer
Grantee Spotlight Erica Dunayer was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for her project entitled "Influence of stress for market exchanges in Cayo Santiago macaques."
06.07.16Grantee Spotlight: Todd Disotell
Grantee Spotlight Todd Disotell was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research grant for his project entitled "Exome sequencing of the Cercocebus-Mandrillus clade."
06.01.16Introducing Our Spring 2016 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held its Spring Granting Session on April 30, 2016. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved thirty-two research grant proposals for funding this cycle.
06.01.16Introducing the 2016 Baldwin Fellows
Grants, The Leakey Foundation, Baldwin Fellows This spring 2016 cycle we have three returning and two new Baldwin Fellows.
05.24.16From the Field: Timothy Campbell
From the Field Timothy Campbell was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for his project entitled, "Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans using rodent postcrania."
04.27.16Our Auction is Live, and Here’s a 3D Model of One of the Items!
The Leakey Foundation Last month we featured a blog post by Leakey Foundation grantee Samantha Porter. She and her team had recently published an article entitled “A Simple Photogrammetry Rig for the Reliable Creation of 3D Artifact Models in the Field” in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice. She was nice enough introduce the article to our readers, describing the technique and the importance of “developing… more »
04.13.16Our Grants Department is in Atlanta for PAS/AAPA!
Grants, The Leakey Foundation This week Paddy Moore and H. Gregory of The Leakey Foundation's grants department are in Atlanta for the annual Paleoanthropology Society and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists conferences being held in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
04.01.16World Heritage Gone: South African Diamond Mining Destroys Archaeological Sites Daily
Guest Post George M. Leader of the University of Pennsylvania describes the importance of long term archaeological research at South Africa’s Cantee Kopje, one of many world heritage sites threatened by diamond mining. Archaeologists working in South Africa are fighting a war on multiple fronts. While the whole world continues its love affair with its favorite stone, the diamond, archaeologists are fighting… more »
03.24.16A Review: The Primates Who Tell Stories
Guest Post, Being Human This week guest blogger Rebecca O'Neill shares her impressions of our March 15th installment of Being Human: The Primates Who Tell Stories featuring Tania Lombrozo.
03.22.16Grantee Spotlight: Genevieve Housman
Grantee Spotlight Genevieve Housman is a PhD candidate from Arizona State University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled “Assessment of DNA methylation patterns in primate skeletal tissues.” My research centers on understanding how epigenetic changes contribute to physical differences in primates. Within primate epigenetics, I am particularly… more »
03.15.16Grantee Spotlight: Julie Lesnik
Grantee Spotlight Julie Lesnik was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled "An evaluation of termite-associated hydrocarbon signatures as an influence on prey selectivity and an ecological signal for chimpanzees and Olduvai hominins."
03.08.16Grantee Spotlight: Corinne Ackermann
Grantee Spotlight Corinne Ackermann is a PhD candidate from the Université de Neuchâtel. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant for her project entitled "Social bonds and oxytocin in wild juvenile chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)."
03.03.16A Simple Method for Reliable Creation of 3D Artifact Models in the Field
Journal Article Last year we introduced you to Samantha Porter who received a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the fall of 2014. Recently Porter and her team published an article describing their photogrammetry technique for creating 3D artifact models. She was kind enough to share some insights (and 3D models) with us!
03.01.16Grantee Spotlight: Dorothée Drucker
Grantee Spotlight Dorothée Drucker was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled "Isotopes, diet and human adaptation in a Mediterranean context."
02.23.16Grantee Spotlight: Marian Hamilton
Grantee Spotlight We awarded Marian Hamilton a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled "Assessing philopatry and range size with strontium isotopes."
02.16.16Group structure predicts variation in proximity relationships between male–female and male–infant pairs of mountain gorillas
Journal Article Dr. Rosenbaum and her team were recently published in the journal Primates. She was kind enough to provide us with a brief summary of this article as well as a related article published in the journal PLOS ONE.
02.16.16Grantee Spotlight: Kathryn Ranhorn
Grantee Spotlight Kathryn Ranhorn was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her proposal entitled "New approaches to the archaeology of modern human origins."
02.12.16Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!
Today in History, Book Shelf When I was young and first learned about Charles Darwin and On the Origin of Species, I was immediately enamored with him and his story.
02.10.16Ring in the Lunar New Year with Monkey Cuvée
The Leakey Foundation In case you haven't heard, our friends at Iron Horse Vineyards have created a special, limited edition “Year of the Monkey” cuvée, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this sparkling wine benefits The Leakey Foundation! Here we have guest blogger Tarin Teno sharing some fun information about Chinese New Year celebrations as well as a few ways to compliment this special wine.
02.09.16Grantee Spotlight: Jamie Clark
Grantee Spotlight Jamie Clark (University of Alaska Fairbanks) was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for her project entitled "Early Upper Paleolithic hunting strategies at Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan."
02.03.16From the Field: Alia Gurtov
From the Field With the start of 2016, it is time for a progress update. As I write, I am sitting in a pleasantly overheated café while Madison, WI, withers in 5° F temperatures. This couldn’t feel more different from the conditions in which I first wrote about my research.
02.02.16Grantee Spotlight: Timothy Campbell
Grantee Spotlight Timothy Campbell, PhD candidate at Texas A&M, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our fall 2015 cycle for his project entitled “Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Sterkfontein and Swartkrans using rodent postcrania.” Many theories of hominin behavioral and morphological evolution have focused on the environments occupied by early members of our lineage in… more »
01.26.16Grantee Spotlight: Kaitlin Wellens
Grantee Spotlight The next grantee from our fall 2015 cycle is Kaitlin Wellens, PhD candidate from The George Washington University. She was awarded a grant for her project entitled “Maternal effects on juvenile chimpanzee social behavior and physiological stress.” Mothers can have a tremendous impact on various aspects of their offspring’s early development, including behavior, stress responses,… more »
01.25.16Book Shelf: The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack
Book Shelf It’s a demanding story of old bones, their finders and keepers, their interpreters slugging it out over taxonomy and ultimate meaning.
01.21.16From the Field: Alexandra Uhl
From the Field In the spring of 2014 The Leakey Foundation awarded Alexandra Uhl, PhD candidate from the University of Tübingen in Germany, a research grant for her project entitled “Sex determination in geographically and ontogenetically diverse samples.” To read a short summary of her work on our blog, click here.
Recently she got in touch with us with a short update. Following the pictures you… more »
01.21.16Cranial evolution in modern humans and neanderthals
Journal Article Timothy Weaver was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the spring of 2010 for his project entitled “Cranial evolution: Neandertals and modern humans compared to chimpanzees.”
Explaining the meaning of skeletal differences between neanderthals and modern humans has been a topic of debate since the discovery of neanderthals in 1856. Differences in cranial morphology have garnered… more »
01.19.16Grantee Spotlight: Meagan Rubel
Grantee Spotlight Over the next few months we will be introducing you to our new fall 2015 grantees, and so we begin with Meagan Rubel.
01.14.16From the Field: Gabriele Schino, Italy
From the Field Gabriele Schino was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our fall 2014 cycle for his project entitled “The emotional basis of primate reciprocity.”
01.13.16Introducing Our Fall 2015 Grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation The Leakey Foundation held its Fall Granting Session on December 5, 2015. Our Board of Trustees unanimously approved twenty three research grant proposals for funding this cycle.
01.08.16Validation of an Acoustic Location System to Monitor Bornean Orangutan Long Calls
Journal Article Brigitte Spillmann, PhD candidate at the University of Zurich, was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the spring of 2010 for her project entitled “The function(s) of a long-distance signal: The orangutan long call.” We recently featured a summary of her work along with her research report on our blog. Click here to read the post. We are now pleased to learn that she has published… more »
01.08.16From the Field: Marco Peresani, Fumane Cave, Italy
From the Field Marco Peresani was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant in the spring of 2015 for his project entitled "Rediscovering the Uluzzian in Italy."
12.15.15Deadline to Register for Tour of France Approaches!
Travel For many years The Leakey Foundation has been leading tours to some of the most fascinating and significant archaeological and anthropological sites in the world, and 2016 will be no different! We are offering Leakey Foundation Fellows the opportunity to take a journey to France.
12.02.15Welcome to Our New Website!
The Leakey Foundation On behalf of the staff and trustees of The Leakey Foundation, we would like to welcome you to our new website, a new tool in fulfilling our mission!
11.20.15Grantee Spotlight: Shannon McFarlin
Grantee Spotlight
Earlier this fall The Leakey Foundation’s board of trustees, staff and friends had the pleasure of visiting the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology (CASHP) at The George Washington University. CASHP is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to the study of human origins, and lucky for us, students and faculty of CASHP were kind enough to give us an extensive tour of their… more »
10.27.15Origin Stories Episode 06: Being a Nice Animal
Origin Stories For our sixth episode we have the first in a collection of stories looking at human behavior and how it’s been shaped by evolution. Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth share their research on the baboon mind.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/230384817″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true”… more »
10.14.15Homo sapiens to the East of Eden
Journal Article María Martinón-Torres is a Leakey Foundation grantee from the University College London. She and her team were recently published in the journal Nature for their work in Southern China. She has been kind enough to provide us with her summary and thoughts on the significance of this find. The discovery of 47 human teeth with unequivocally modern morphologies from a cave in southern China reveals that our… more »
10.08.15From the Field: Rebecca Miller, Belgium
From the Field Dr. Rebecca Miller (Spring 2015 Grantee), with co-investigators Dr. John Stewart and Dr. Keith Wilkinson, completed this summer’s Leakey Foundation funded field season at the site of Trou Al’Wesse in Belgium. With an enthusiastic and meticulous team of students from the University of Liège, Bournemouth University and Winchester University, as well as two students doing doctoral and Master’s research… more »
10.06.15Surprising trunk rotational capabilities in chimpanzees
Journal Article Nathan Thompson is a PhD candidate at Stony Brook University who was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2014. He and his team were published in this month’s issue of Nature Communications, and he has been kind enough to provide us a brief summary of the article. Compared to our great ape relatives, humans possess a long and flexible trunk (the part of the body that includes the… more »
09.18.15From the Field: Nikki Garret
From the Field Niki Garrett is a PhD candidate from the University of Minnesota. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the fall of 2013 for her project entitled “Compound specific paleoecology of Early Miocene hominoids from East Africa.” Here is a brief description of her research followed by a report from the field. I am interested in the relationship between ecological/climate change… more »
09.09.15Modern human dispersal on the southern plain of Eastern Europe
Research Report John Hoffecker John Hoffecker of the University of Colorado has been awarded 13 grants from The Leakey Foundation for his research at various sites in Eastern Europe. He has been awarded three for work at Shlyakh, an open-air Paleolithic site located in the Volgograd region of Russia. The most recent Leakey grant for this site was awarded in the spring of 2013.
In August 2013 Hoffecker and his team performed… more »
09.02.15Tooth eruption and life history in living chimpanzees
Research Report Tanya Smith (R) and co-PI Zarin Machanda (L) Tanya Smith, Associate Professor at Harvard was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2012 for her project entitled “Tooth eruption and life history in living chimpanzees.” Tanya Smith and her team study dental development patterns in chimpanzees in order to better understand the evolution of human development. Previous… more »
08.31.15Grantee Spotlight: Amelia Villaseñor
Grantee Spotlight Amelia Villaseñor was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled “The biogeography and behavioral ecology of hominins in Pliocene Eastern Africa: A macroecological perspective.” The East Africa rift valley well known as the home to some to some of our most famous hominin ancestors: from Lucy to the Nutcracker man to the Turkana boy.… more »
08.27.15From the Field: Claudia Wilke
From the Field Claudia Wilke
Claudia Wilke is a PhD candidate at the University of York in the United Kingdom. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our fall 2013 cycle for her project entitled “Are cooperative chimpanzees more communicative (Kibale Forest, Uganda)?” Here she gives us an update on her field season and how her research is progressing. My time at Kibale Chimpanzee Project… more »
Claudia Wilke is a PhD candidate at the University of York in the United Kingdom. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our fall 2013 cycle for her project entitled “Are cooperative chimpanzees more communicative (Kibale Forest, Uganda)?” Here she gives us an update on her field season and how her research is progressing. My time at Kibale Chimpanzee Project… more »
08.20.15From the Field: Amanda Lea, Amboseli Basin, Kenya
From the Field This January we introduced you to Amanda Lea. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our fall 2014 cycle for her project entitled “Effects of social conditions on DNA methylation and immune function.” Here she updates us on the her latest field season. When we dart a baboon, we process it near its social group so that the animal can be released quickly and efficiently once it recovers… more »
08.19.15Oligocene primates from the Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania
Research Report Nancy Stevens Nancy Stevens is a professor at Ohio University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2011 for her project entitled “Oligocene primates from the Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania.”
The late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation (~25Ma) is located in the Rukwa Rift Basin in southwestern Tanzania. These deposits represent the only late Oligocene primate fossil… more »
08.17.15Grantee Spotlight: Iulia Badescu
Grantee Spotlight Iulia Badescu Iulia Badescu is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our 2015 spring cycle for her project entitled “Investigating the infant nutritional development of wild chimpanzees.” I am investigating the infant nutritional development of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Ngogo, Kibale National… more »
08.13.15From the Field: Alia Gurtov
From the Field Alia Gurtov at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. This January we introduced you to fall 2014 grantee Alia Gurtov. Here she updates us on the progress of her project entitled “Dental microwear analysis of Early Pleistocene hominin foraging seasonality.” I have long been interested in the ecological constraints on ancient human behavior. For my PhD research, I am studying the impact of seasonality… more »
08.12.15Micro-CT study of the Pleistocene human fossil teeth from Atapuerca
Research Report María Martinon-Torres at the Atapuerca sites. Photo credit: A. Canet.
María Martinon-Torres was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the fall of 2012 for her project entitled “Micro-CT study of the Pleistocene human fossil teeth from Atapuerca.”
By allowing researchers to reconstruct the internal structures of fossil dental samples, MicroCT provides a new dataset of… more »
08.10.15Grantee Spotlight: Davide Faggionato
Grantee Spotlight Davide Faggionato Davide Faggionato was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2015 cycle for his project entitled “Molecular and functional analysis of vision in three hominin species.” Hominin paleogenomics, the study of genomes retrieved from fossil hominin remains, has revolutionized the way we study human evolution. For the first time, we can sample DNA from… more »
08.05.15Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Primates
Research Report Stephen Chester screening for Paleocene plesiadapiforms and other mammal fossils in Montana. Photo credit: Eric Sargis
As a PhD candidate at Yale University, Stephen Chester was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2010 for his project entitled “Origin and early evolutionary history of primates.”
Stephen Chester studies the fossils of plesiadapiforms. Plesiadapiforms … more »
08.03.15Grantee Spotlight: Ashley Hammond
Grantee Spotlight Ashley Hammond of the George Washington University was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled “Reconstructing phenotypic change of the pelvis in apes and humans.” Ashley Hammond
I study how the skeletal anatomy of primates relates to locomotion. The hipbone differs dramatically among living primates adapted for different locomotion, and… more »
07.29.15Exploration for Early Anthropoids and other Primates in Western Egypt
Research Report Part of the collection of crocodile fossils. Photo credit: Erik Seiffert. Erik Seiffert is an associate professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in 2006 for his project entitled “Exploration for Early Anthropoids and other Primates in Western Egypt.”
Prompted by studies suggesting that anthropoid… more »
07.27.15Grantee Spotlight: Rebecca Miller
Grantee Spotlight Rebecca Miller is a researcher at the University of Liege. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled “The Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition at Trou Al’Wesse (Belgium).” Her co-investigators are John Stewart and Keith Wilkinson. Rebecca Miller
Trou Al’Wesse (literally ‘cave of the wasp) is a narrow cave… more »
07.23.15From the Field: Nicole Squyres
From the Field Nicole Squyres is a PhD candidate from Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our fall 2014 cycle for her project entitled “Morphological variation in the distal femur of modern humans and fossil hominins.” Nicole Squyres
The Leakey Foundation Research Grant has funded my travels to several different skeletal collections both within the US and… more »
07.20.15Grantee Spotlight: Tyler Faith
Grantee Spotlight Tyler Faith is a researcher from the University of Queensland in Australia. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2015 cycle for his project entitled "Middle Stone Age of the Gwasi and Uyoma Peninsulas, Kenya."
07.15.15Neandertal Fire Technology
Research Report Carolina Mallol has been awarded three Leakey Foundation research grants for her project entitled “Neandertal fire technology.” Currently she is beginning the field season for her third grant awarded in our spring 2015 cycle, and so we thought we would post the final report from her 2012 grant. This is an excerpt from the report followed by a link to the report itself.
Carolina Mallol Our ongoing research… more »
Carolina Mallol Our ongoing research… more »
07.14.15From Our Grants Department: The July 15th Deadline for Our Fall Cycle Approaches!
Grants by H. Gregory The Leakey Foundation office in the Presidio of San Francisco
While many of you are busy putting the final touches on your grant application for our fall 2015 cycle, I thought I would post some information you may find handy.
For those of you who have not met the The Leakey Foundation grants department staff, Paddy Moore is our grant officer, and I am the grant associate. It is our job to facilitate… more »
07.13.15Grantee Spotlight: Kelsey Ellis
Grantee Spotlight Kelsey Ellis is a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. During our spring 2015 cycle she was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant for her project entitled “Grouping dynamics of woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii) in Amazonian Ecuador.” Kelsey Ellis
Multilevel societies are recognized as some of the most complex social systems found in nature and have been identified… more »
07.06.15Grantee Spotlight: Gabriele Schino
Grantee Spotlight Gabriele Schino was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our fall 2014 cycle for his project entitled “The emotional basis of primate reciprocity.” He and his collaborator Elsa Addessi are from the Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council in Rome, Italy. Gabriele Schino and Elsa Addessi
Reciprocal cooperation is a prominent characteristic… more »
07.02.15Grantee Spotlight: Halszka Glowacka
Grantee Spotlight Halszka Glowacka is a PhD candidate at Arizona State University. She was awarded a grant during our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled “Biomechanical constraints on molar emergence in primates.”
Halszka Glowacka in Hadar, Ethiopia Human life history is unique among living primates. Humans grow slowly and have long lifespans coupled with short inter-birth intervals, resulting… more »
Halszka Glowacka in Hadar, Ethiopia Human life history is unique among living primates. Humans grow slowly and have long lifespans coupled with short inter-birth intervals, resulting… more »
06.26.15Grantee Spotlight: Thierra Nalley
Grantee Spotlight The next grantee from our spring 2015 cycle is Thierra Nalley from the California Academy of Sciences. Her project is entitled “Ontogeny of the thoracolumbar transition in extant hominoids and Australopithecus.” Thierra Nalley and a digital reconstruction of the fossil hominin DIK 1-1
Walking on two legs, or bipedalism, is a hallmark adaptation of the human lineage. A requirement for… more »
06.23.15Grantee Spotlight: Karline R. L. Janmaat
Grantee Spotlight Introducing Karline Janmaat from the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our spring 2015 cycle for her project entitled “The ecological intelligence of human rainforest foragers.” Karline Janmaat. Photo credit: Bill Loubelo
Many primates have developed mental abilities that help them keep track of when and where… more »
06.21.15Male rank, not paternity, predicts male–immature relationships in mountain gorillas
Journal Article Stacy Rosenbaum (University of California at Los Angeles) was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in 2010 for her project entitled “Male-immature relationships in the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei).” Dr. Rosenbaum and her team were recently published in the journal Animal Behaviour, and she was kind enough to provide us with a brief summary of the article. Copyright: … more »
06.19.15Grantee Spotlight: Gabrielle Russo
Grantee Spotlight The next spring 2015 Leakey Foundation grantee we would like to introduce you to is Gabrielle Russo from Stony Brook University. Her project is entitled “Elucidating the evolutionary pathways of hominin basicranial morphology using a formal phylogenetic comparative primate approach.” Gabrielle Russo (R) and collaborator Jeroen B. Smaers
The morphology of the basicranium (base… more »
06.17.15Journal Article: There Is More than One Way to Crack an Oyster: Identifying Variation in Burmese Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea) Stone-Tool Use
Journal Article Amanda Tan is a PhD candidate at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2013. Here is a summary of her team’s recent paper in PLOS ONE. Researchers Catalog Variation in Stone-Tool Use by Burmese Long-Tailed Macaques Burmese long-tailed macaques living on islands in southern Thailand use 17 different action patterns… more »
06.15.15Grantee Spotlight: Paola Villa
Grantee Spotlight Over the next few months we will be introducing you to our new spring 2015 Leakey Foundation grantees, and the first on our list is Paola Villa from the University of Colorado Museum. She was awarded a research grant for her project entitled “Uluzzian technology in Central Italy: From Neandertals to modern humans.”
Dr. Paola Villa
Current evidence suggests that modern humans evolved and… more »
Dr. Paola Villa
Current evidence suggests that modern humans evolved and… more »
06.09.15From the Field: Benjamin Collins, Grassridge Rockshelter, South Africa
From the Field Season two field crew (l-r): Cherene De Bruyn, Lisa Rogers, Dr. Christopher Ames, Dr. Benjamin Collins. Photo credit: Dr. Benjamin Collins.
Dr. Benjamin Collins and Dr. Christopher Ames recently concluded a second season of Leakey Foundation-funded excavations at Grassridge rockshelter. The shelter is located at the base of the Stormberg Mountains in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, approximately… more »
06.02.15Presenting Our Spring 2015 Grantees
Grants On April 25th The Leakey Foundation’s Board of Trustees convened for our Spring Granting Session. The Board unanimously approved the twenty-two research grants our Scientific Executive Committee presented as recommended for funding.
Here are a few numbers from our Spring 2015 Granting Cycle:
There were 101 research grant applications: 37% were categorized as behavioral, 63% were paleoanthropology. … more »
05.28.15Introducing the Spring 2015 Baldwin Fellows
Grants, The Leakey Foundation, Baldwin Fellows Franklin Mosher Baldwin Memorial Fellowships are awarded to graduate students who are from developing countries and would like to pursue training and/or education abroad. In providing this opportunity The Leakey Foundation hopes to equip these scholars with the knowledge and experience necessary to assume leadership positions in their home countries where there often exist extraordinary resources… more »
05.05.15Grantee Spotlight: Sarie Van Belle
Grantee Spotlight Sarie Van Belle and howler monkeys In December 2014, three time Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Sarie Van Belle, of the University of Texas at Austin, was awarded a research grant for her project entitled “Paternity and kinship in socially monogamous saki and titi monkeys.” This study will examine paternity and kinship patterns in two closely related primate species (the red titi monkey, Callicebus… more »
04.20.15Behind the Science: C3 or C4, Which One Are You?
Behind the Science, Tutorial by H. Gregory This is the first in a series of articles written for those of you who might appreciate a little extra background information on the science behind some of the projects we share with you. Enjoy! In this year’s Spring/Summer AnthroQuest we describe how Getty Grant recipient Thure Cerling is using stable isotope analysis of tooth enamel from fossil primates in order to determine the percentages… more »
03.29.15Grantee Spotlight: Lauren Gonzales
Grantee Spotlight Lauren Gonzales is a PhD candidate from Duke University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the fall of 2013 for her project entitled “Intraspecific variation in semicircular canal morphology in platyrrhine monkeys.” Lauren Gonzales
Understanding the functional relationship between locomotion and the morphology of the semicircular canals is an important adjunct… more »
03.26.15Salvaging fossil primates from an underwater cave
Research Report Alfred L. Rosenberger
In August 2009 divers of the AD Exploration Foundation discovered a well preserved skull, limb bones, ribs and vertebrae of a small extinct monkey (Antillothrix bernensis) submerged in an underwater freshwater cave in the Dominican Republic. A multi-agency team solicited the collaboration of Dr. A.L. Rosenberger of Brooklyn College to recover these remains in October 2009.
In… more »
03.16.15Grantee Spotlight: Elizabeth Moffett
Grantee Spotlight We are pleased to introduce Elizabeth Moffett, PhD candidate from University of Missouri, who was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in December 2014 for her project entitled “Birth and its effects on anthropoid pelvic shape and integration.” Elizabeth Moffett
Birth selection is thought to be one of the most important pressures shaping the primate pelvis. Yet, it remains unclear… more »
03.03.15Dominance, energetics and stress in female capuchins in Costa Rica
Research Report Mackenzie Bergstrom
For her PhD dissertation, Mackenzie Bergstrom of the University of Calgary studied 25 adult female capuchins living in three habituated social groups in a tropical dry forest in Sector Santa Rosa (SSR) of the Área de Conservaciόn Guanacaste (ACG) in northwest Costa Rica. To better understand how ecological and social variables affect the physical condition of these New World… more »
02.23.15Grantee Spotlight: Samantha Porter
Grantee Spotlight Samantha Porter in the lithics lab at the University of Minnesota The next grantee from our fall 2014 granting cycle is Samantha Porter. She is a PhD candidate from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and her project is entitled “Investigating cultural transmission across the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Western Europe.” Around 40,000 years ago, anatomically modern… more »
02.09.15Grantee Spotlight: Maura Tyrrell
Grantee Spotlight The next fall 2014 grantee we would like to introduce to you is Maura Tyrrell. She is a PhD candidate from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and her dissertation project is entitled “Effect of competition on male coalition patterns in crested macaques.” Maura Tyrrell and a crested macaque
My dissertation focuses on the social relationships between… more »
02.04.15Grantee Spotlight: Naomi Cleghorn
Grantee Spotlight Naomi Cleghorn, University of Texas at Arlington, was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the fall of 2014 for her project entitled “Investigating a rare Early Later Stone Age site at Knysna, South Africa.” Naomi Cleghorn at Pinnacle Point site 5/6, Mossel Bay, South Africa
Despite widespread interest in the potential origins of modern human cognitive, social, and technological… more »
01.29.15Grantee Spotlight: Shelby S. Putt
Grantee Spotlight We are happy to introduce another one of our fall 2014 grantees, Shelby S. Putt, PhD candidate from the University of Iowa. Her dissertation project is entitled “Investigating the co-evolution of language and toolmaking: An fNIRS study.” Shelby S. Putt
Our language and cognition are arguably the features that most distinguish us from other species, and yet, we still know so little about… more »
01.26.15Grantee Spotlight: Amanda Lea
Grantee Spotlight We are pleased to introduce you to another one of our newest grantees, Amanda Lea, PhD candidate from Duke University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the Fall of 2014 for her project entitled “Effects of social conditions on DNA methylation and immune function.” Many primates, including humans, live in complex social environments in which both competitive and… more »
01.20.15Grantee Spotlight: Michael Granatosky
Grantee Spotlight Michael Granatosky, PhD candidate from Duke University, was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in our most recent granting cycle for his project entitled “Gait mechanics of inverted walking: Implications for evolution of suspensory behavior.”
Michael Granatosky at the Duke Lemur Center Specialized arm-swinging locomotion has arisen independently numerous times during the… more »
Michael Granatosky at the Duke Lemur Center Specialized arm-swinging locomotion has arisen independently numerous times during the… more »
01.15.15Orangutan ranging in Kutai National Park
Research Report Anne E. Russon
York Univesity Anne E. Russon In spring 2012 The Leakey Foundation awarded Anne E. Russon a grant for her long-term study of behavior in east Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) at the Bendili study area (Kutai National Park). This project focused specifically on orangutan ranging, feeding ecology and spatial cognition. Researchers have studied orangutans in the Bendili and nearby… more »
York Univesity Anne E. Russon In spring 2012 The Leakey Foundation awarded Anne E. Russon a grant for her long-term study of behavior in east Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) at the Bendili study area (Kutai National Park). This project focused specifically on orangutan ranging, feeding ecology and spatial cognition. Researchers have studied orangutans in the Bendili and nearby… more »
01.06.15Grantee Spotlight: Alia Gurtov
Grantee Spotlight Over the next few months we will be introducing you to Leakey Foundation grantees from our Fall 2014 granting cycle. Our first featured grantee is Alia Gurtov, PhD candidate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her project is entitled “Dental microwear analysis of Early Pleistocene hominin foraging seasonality.”
Alia Gurtov in Rising Star Cave For our Early Stone Age predecessors… more »
Alia Gurtov in Rising Star Cave For our Early Stone Age predecessors… more »
12.22.14Presenting Our Fall 2014 Leakey Foundation Grantees!
Grants On December 6th The Leakey Foundation’s Board of Trustees convened for our Fall 2014 Granting Session. The Board unanimously approved the twenty-five research grants our Scientific Executive Committee presented as recommended for funding.
Here are a few numbers from our Fall 2014 Granting Cycle:
- There were 75 research grant applications
- 40% were categorized as behavioral, 60% were paleoanthropology
12.16.14Grantee Spotlight: Elizabeth Tinsley Johnson
Grantee Spotlight In the spring of 2013 Elizabeth Tinsley Johnson, PhD candidate from the University of Michigan, was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant for her project entitled “A test of the vocal grooming hypothesis in the gelada.” Geladas (close relatives of baboons) are exceptionally unique primates that are only found in the highlands of Ethiopia. What makes them unique? First, they… more »
12.12.14Survey of bonobos in Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba area, Democratic Republic of Congo
Research Report Paco Bertolani, PhD Candidate
University of Cambridge The Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba area (TL2) lies at the eastern edge of the bonobos’ species range in the Congo basin. In what eventually led to the creation of the TL2 Project, Terese and John Hart organized extensive surveys of TL2 starting in 2007. They confirmed the presence of bonobos in this area, estimating a population of over 10,000 individuals.… more »
University of Cambridge The Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba area (TL2) lies at the eastern edge of the bonobos’ species range in the Congo basin. In what eventually led to the creation of the TL2 Project, Terese and John Hart organized extensive surveys of TL2 starting in 2007. They confirmed the presence of bonobos in this area, estimating a population of over 10,000 individuals.… more »
12.08.14Male-male competition and reproduction in wild blue monkeys
Research Report Su-Jen Roberts, PhD candidate from Columbia University, was awarded a research grant in spring of 2012 for her project to assess what variables drive variance in reproductive success in wild blue monkeys.
11.12.14From the Field: Alexandra Uhl at the StEvE Conference, University of Tübingen
From the Field Leakey Foundation grantee Alexandra Uhl, PhD candidate from the University of Tübingen in Germany, reports from the StEvE Conference. EvE is a semester seminar series at the University of Tübingen with speakers who talk about their research in Evolution and Ecology. The StEvE conference is organized within the EvE for Students… So St(udents) and EvE = StEVE.
Each year StEvE is organized by a different… more »
11.10.14Grantee Spotlight: Alexandra Uhl
Grantee Spotlight In the spring of 2014 The Leakey Foundation awarded Alexandra Uhl, PhD candidate from the University of Tübingen in Germany, a research grant for her project entitled “Sex determination in geographically and ontogenetically diverse samples.” My research looks at sexual dimorphism (differences between males and females) in the bony labyrinth, which is the rigid outer wall of the inner… more »
10.08.14Research Report: The function(s) of a long-distance signal: The orangutan long call
Research Report Brigitte Spillmann was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in spring 2010 for her PhD project focusing on the functions of the long call, the long distance signal of the flanged male orangutan.
