Introducing our Spring 2021 Grantees
We are pleased to announce the 24 recipients of our spring 2021 Leakey Foundation Research Grants. Their diverse research projects include studies of resource use by early human ancestors, the impacts of early life adversity on baboons, the origins of primate pair-bonding, investigations of ancient climates and diets, as well as several new hominin fossil excavations.
Announcing the 2021 Baldwin Fellows
Since 1978, the prestigious Baldwin Fellowship has worked to build scientific capacity in the regions where fossils and wild primates are found. We are proud to introduce the outstanding spring 2021 cohort of new and returning Baldwin Fellows.
How young orangutans learn
Young orangutans must acquire a vast set of skills and knowledge as they grow. They do this through several years of observational social learning and practice. New research shows that growing female and male orangutans pay attention to different types of individuals.
How early humans used fire to permanently change the Stone Age landscape
An interdisciplinary group of researchers have shown how early humans used fire to shape the environments to suit their needs. In doing so, they transformed the landscape around them in ways still visible today.
Discarded ostrich shells provide timeline for our early African ancestors
Archaeologists have learned a lot about our ancestors by rummaging through their garbage piles. One common kitchen scrap in Africa– shells of ostrich eggs–is now helping unscramble the mystery of when these changes took place, providing a timeline for some of the earliest Homo sapiens who settled down to utilize marine food resources along the South African coast more than 100,000 years ago.