The Leakey Foundation

10.21.20

Turbulent environment set the stage for leaps in human evolution and technology 320,000 years ago

People thrive all across the globe, at every temperature, altitude and landscape. How did human beings become so successful at adapting to whatever environment we wind up in? Human origins researchers like me are interested in how this quintessential human trait, adaptability, evolved.

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.

07.24.19

Fossil 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.

05.16.19

From the Field: Kevin Hatala, Nariokotome, Kenya

From the Field

Leakey Foundation grantee Kevin Hatala has recently returned from fieldwork near Nariokotome, in northwestern Kenya, where his research team did surveys and preliminary excavations of sites that preserve 1.5 million-year-old fossil footprints.

03.04.19

From the Field: Deming Yang, Kenya