Alesi: The Life, Death, and Discovery of an Ancestor
The recent discovery of a 13 million-year-old fossil infant ape skull has offered a rare glimpse of what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like. The fossil, nicknamed “Alesi,” was discovered by a member of Dr. Isaiah Nengo’s research team. In this talk, Dr. Nengo will share the story of finding this rare fossil and discuss what cutting-edge technology has uncovered about the life of this ancient infant.
New 13 million-year-old infant skull sheds light on ape ancestry
The discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like.
Follow the Leader?
Every animal that lives in groups has to make decisions as a group. Even a seemingly simple decision like "where should we go for dinner?" can be complicated to negotiate.
Grantee Spotlight: Emma Mbua
Emma Mbua is a Kenyan paleoanthropologist who has been working at Kantis Fossil Site (KFS), a paleontological site on the outskirts of Nairobi in Kenya which has been dated to 3.5 million years old.
Grantee Spotlight: Nicole Thompson
Nicole Thompson
Nicole Thompson is a PhD candidate at Columbia University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation Research Grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “The benefits of social connections during development in blue monkeys in Kakamega, Kenya.”
We (primates) have strongly differentiated social relationships — not all social partners are created equal, and whom we associate