Blog
Event: Frans de Waal discusses gender through the eyes of a primatologist
Speaker Series See world-renowned primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal's first public lecture on his new book Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist at The Leakey Foundation's first hybrid event on April 5, 2022.
Ancient DNA helps reveal social changes in Africa that shaped the human story
Journal Article, Behind the Science An interdisciplinary team has sequenced and analyzed the oldest ancient DNA from Africa. This new research gives insights into the lives, movements, and relations of people who lived in Africa between 18,000 and 5,000 years ago.
Liran Samuni wins 2021 Gordon P. Getty Grant
Grants, The Leakey Foundation Dr. Liran Samuni has been awarded The Leakey Foundation's 2021 Gordon P. Getty Grant. This award honors scientists whose multidisciplinary research significantly advances science related to human origins, evolution, behavior, and survival.
Introducing our fall 2021 grantees
Grants, The Leakey Foundation We are pleased to announce the recipients of our fall 2021 Leakey Foundation Research Grants. These 39 scientists embody our mission of increasing scientific knowledge and public understanding of human evolution, behavior, and survival.
Richard Leakey, renowned paleoanthropologist and conservationist dies at age 77
In the News Paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Erskine Frere Leakey, whose discoveries helped show that humankind evolved in Africa, died on January 2, 2022, at age 77.
Origin Stories podcast year in review
The Leakey Foundation, Origin Stories Origin Stories podcast turned six years old in 2021! We produced 10 episodes and reached several important milestones this year. Here's a look back at our year in podcasting.
Help us meet our quadruple-match challenge!
The Leakey Foundation, Support Us Human origins research is powered by donors like you. This December, your donation to The Leakey Foundation will be quadruple-matched thanks to Jorge and Ann Leis and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.
Your support made a difference in 2021
The Leakey Foundation From funding research that helps us understand what it means to be human, to helping young scientists achieve their dreams of pursuing a graduate degree, to protecting endangered primates that stand at the brink of extinction, your support made a world of difference this year.
Fossil spine suggests ancient human relative walked like us, but climbed like an ape
Journal Article s ago an ancient human relative, Australopithecus sediba, lived in what is today South Africa, near a cave called Malapa that’s a part of the Cradle of Humankind. Until recently, it was not clear how much the species spent climbing in trees and walking on two legs on the ground.
Mystery solved: footprints from Site A at Laetoli, Tanzania, are from early humans, not bears
Journal Article, In the News The oldest unequivocal evidence of upright walking in the human lineage are footprints discovered at Laetoli, Tanzania in 1978, by paleontologist Mary Leakey and her team. The bipedal trackways date to 3.7 million years ago. Another set of mysterious footprints was partially excavated at nearby Site A in 1976 but dismissed as possibly being made by a bear. A recent re-excavation of the Site A footprints at Laetoli and a detailed comparative analysis reveal that the footprints were made by an early human
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