Leakey knew how to discover fossils of ancient human species as a child, as the son of famous parents, but he also took care of nature and fought ivory traders, received two kidney transplants and a liver transplant, lost the His feet in the crash of his plane, and he discovered important discoveries in the field of human evolution
Richard Leakey, a world-renowned paleoanthropologist who continues a family tradition, has died at the age of 77 in Nairobi, Kenya, as announced by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Leakey, whose famous parents Louis and Mary Leakey made a profound contribution to the understanding of human evolution through key fossil findings of early hominids, also made important discoveries of his own in the field.
In 1981 he gained a public reputation as the presenter of the BBC’s Birth of Humanity TV series. In the late 1980s, however, he changed his area of focus, taking on the role of Kenya’s wildlife service chief, and battling illegal hunters who threatened to kill the country’s elephants and rhinos. He also helped bring to international attention the problem of the illegal trade in ivory.
In 1993, while flying his small plane he experienced a mechanical problem and crashed. As a result of the accident, both of his legs were amputated below the knee. Leakey has always suspected, but never been able to prove, that the accident was caused by an injury by his political rivals.
Earlier, in 1979, he received the first of two kidney transplants from his brother C. And gave. Decades later, he received the second kidney donation from his wife immediately and in addition also underwent a liver transplant. The acquaintance between the two spans five decades and they went through extraordinary experiences together, in a remote desert area in northern Kenya where the main study was conducted.
Personal friends. ” Prof. said only to the reporter “The Scientist”.
“I first met him in 1972 when I was on a study trip to Africa with the late Ofer Bar-Yosef and Naama Goren. We stayed with him and his mother Mary Leakey and he invited us to come to the research site in the east of Lake Rudolph – now Lake Turkana. We got stuck on the way with a whole adventure story and he rescued us with his plane after a few days: we rented a car, in our great stupidity only one car, and drove to get to his camp. On the way the car broke down and we waited two days in a terrible and horrible desert until we realized that if we did not start walking we would die of thirst. At night we started walking towards Lake Rudolph which was 80 kilometers away from us, and only when we reached the lake and lit a fire to signal our location did we see his plane looking for us and so began my acquaintance with him. “
In the same expedition he let me see some of the important fossils discovered then including the famous skull called 1870 which is a skull of very advanced Homo habilis or very primitive Homo erectus.
Even at the end of that first mission, Leakey was required to help the professor only that his wedding date was approaching and they were still in an area far from a settlement. Leakey flew the plane only to Nairobi, to make it easier for him to return to Israel.
But not only adventure, but also research work the two part.
“A few years later, in 1976, I was already in Berkeley to write My doctorate. I had to get there and examine the fossils that are in Kenya, and he kindly, in a very unusual move, let me explore fossils that have not yet been released. He allowed me to spend a month there on the fossils, and every day we met and talked about my discoveries. He and his wife immediately were just great to me and then on various other occasions, all kinds of workshops held in Kenya I got to meet him and stay at their house.
Fossil researcher without formal education
“I really appreciated him even though he had no formal education. He was proud that he acquired his education from his father – Luis Leakey. “And of all the famous people who came to visit there. He had an unusual sense of orientation and some of the workers he chose, the Kenyans, were wonderful trackers who were largely responsible for most of the finds there.
“The findings he, his wife and mother discovered in Oldobai are among the cornerstones of our discipline. Wonderful things, they helped discover important milestones of human evolution. Oldobai is a famous mall in Tanzania and Richard Bilu’s parents There he spent over thirty years searching for the hominids responsible for the many tools found there, and he accompanied them frequently.He and his brother Jonathan found while still children some of the important findings of Homo habilis and thus contributed to the discoveries of the whole family.He always rubbed with good The researchers who came to Oldobai George. ”
“His father was the son of a missionary who came to Kenya. They gave up British citizenship and became Kenyans. Richard even ran for parliament and won a seat there. In those years he worked very passionately in preserving my husband. Haim. He was responsible for the great persecution of the elephant hunters, collected a great many ivory collected by the hunters and burned them, which was described as a great victory over these hunters. “
” This victory probably cost him Very expensive; a year later he crashed his plane in one of these chases and lost both his legs. Rumor has it that the plane crash was caused by an injury to those he fought among the hunters. Like seeing Richard Leakey who was a very tall man walking around on prostheses in the great desert of northern Kenya. “
” Before the accident he underwent a kidney transplant that his brother Jonathan donated to him, in recent years He needed another transplant, and this time the donor was his wife immediately. He suffered from many diseases, so the fact that he reached the age of 77. is almost a medical miracle, and indicates a great deal of stubbornness on his part. “
” This time The last time we met was about seven years ago . There was a workshop in West Turkana at the great institute he and his wife founded there, and although he was ill and exhausted I remember him alert in all the lectures, asking questions, and unusually interested in what was new. He used to report on the great changes that Lake Turkana is going through and his testimonies were very learned evidence of the declining level due to the dehydration of this wondrous lake. It was found in the life of living nature, and in the “life” of fossils. He was interested in everything. “
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