Blog
08.14.19Early Hominins Grew Their Spinal Columns Like Modern Humans
Journal Article The spinal column is a critical region for understanding the evolution of bipedal walking because the joints between the vertebrae are involved in back movements and the formation of the lumbar lordosis, a curve in the lower back that allows humans to walk upright. New Leakey Foundation-supported research shows that early hominins grew their spinal columns like modern humans.
08.07.19From the Archive: Louis S.B. Leakey
Origin Stories, From the Archive In the final installment of our "From the Archive" series, Kenyan paleoanthropologist Louis S.B. Leakey shares the story of his life and work in a never-before-released interview recorded in 1969.
08.07.19Celebrating Louis S.B. Leakey
The Leakey Foundation, Today in History Louis Leakey was born on this day in 1903. He was a charismatic scientist who devoted his life to uncovering our shared past and telling our shared story.
08.06.19From the Field: Stephanie Musgrave, Goualougo Triangle, Republic of the Congo
From the Field Leakey Foundation grantee Stephanie Musgrave has been in the field with the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project in the Republic of the Congo where she studies how the chimpanzees there make and use tools to gather termites and other resources such as ants, honey, seeds, and marrow.
08.05.19Darwin: A Primate’s Tale
Primate Tales Darwin is a capuchin monkey who was born during a time of great prosperity for her group. She is the granddaughter of alpha male Pablo and the venerable alpha female Chupacabra. Darwin had a happy and relatively carefree childhood but her life since then has had its challenges.
07.24.19Fossil of Smallest Old World Monkey Species Discovered in Kenya
Journal Article Researchers from the National Museums of Kenya, University of Arkansas, University of Missouri and Duke University have announced the discovery of a tiny monkey that lived in Kenya 4.2 million years ago.
07.23.19Ancient Saharan Seaway Illustrates How Earth’s Climate and Creatures Can Undergo Extreme Change
Journal Article The region now holding the Sahara Desert was once underwater, in striking contrast to the present-day arid environment. This dramatic difference in climate over time is recorded in the rock and fossil record of West Africa during a time range that extends through the Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) boundary.
07.12.19The Discovery of “Zinj”
Guest Post, Today in History On July 17, 1959, Mary Leakey left her camp and went out to search the layers of sediment in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, as she and her husband Louis Leakey had done for almost 30 years. Their primary goal was to find fossils of our human relatives (hominins), and as hot, dusty, backbreaking, painstakingly slow and what many friends and fellow scientists might call impossible as that goal seemed, they were determined to reach it.
07.03.19The Leakey Foundation Announces New Scholarship for East African Geologists and Botanists
Grants, The Leakey Foundation, Press Release The Leakey Foundation is proud to announce the Francis H. Brown African Scholarship. This scholarship fund was established to honor the life and work of Dr. Francis H. Brown, a geologist whose study of the Omo-Turkana basin helped build the timeline of human evolution.
07.02.19Bonobo Diet of Aquatic Greens May Hold Clues to Human Evolution
Journal Article With support from The Leakey Foundation, scientists have observed bonobos in the Congo basin foraging in swamps for aquatic herbs rich in iodine. Iodine is a critical nutrient for brain development and higher cognitive abilities, and this new research may explain how the nutritional needs of prehistoric humans in the region were met.
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