The Leakey Foundation

Journal Article

01.06.20

Chimpanzees more likely to share tools, teach skills when task is complex

Teach a chimpanzee to fish for insects to eat, and you feed her for a lifetime. Teach her a better way to use tools in gathering prey, and you may change the course of evolution.

12.12.19

Indonesian Cave Paintings Show the Dawn of Imaginative Art

Journal Article

By Adam Brumm, Griffith University; Adhi Oktaviana, Griffith University, and Maxime Aubert, Griffith University Our team has discovered a cave painting in Indonesia that is at least 44,000 years old and which may cast new light on the beginnings of modern religious culture. This ancient painting from the island of Sulawesi consists of a scene portraying part-human, part-animal figures hunting wild… more »

11.15.19

Global Climate Change Concerns for Africa’s Lake Victoria

Journal Article

Global climate change could cause Africa’s Lake Victoria, the world’s largest tropical lake and source of the Nile River, to dry up in the next 500 years, according to new findings funded in part by The Leakey Foundation. Even more imminent, the White Nile — one of the two main tributaries of the Nile — could lose its source waters in just a decade.

08.28.19

A 3.8-Million-Year-Old Fossil From Ethiopia Reveals the Face of Lucy’s Ancestor

Journal Article, In the News

Leakey Foundation grantee Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie and his team of researchers have discovered a "remarkably complete" cranium of a 3.8-million-year-old early human ancestor from the Woranso-Mille paleontological site, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia.

08.14.19

Early 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.