Leakey

[ lee-kee ]

noun

1. Lou·is Sey·mour Baz·ett [loo, -is , see, -mawr , baz, -it], 1903–72, British archaeologist and anthropologist.
2. Mary (Douglas), 1913–96, British archaeologist (wife of Louis Leakey).
3. Richard (Erskine Frere) [rich, -erd , ur, -skin , freer], 1944–2022, Kenyan paleontologist and animal-rights activist (son of Louis and Mary Leakey).

Leakey

/ ˈliːkɪ /

noun

1. LeakeyLouis Seymour Bazett19031972MBritishSOCIAL SCIENCE: anthropologistHISTORY: archaeologist Louis Seymour Bazett (ˈbæzɪt). 1903–72, British anthropologist and archaeologist, settled in Kenya. He discovered fossil remains of manlike apes in E Africa
2. LeakeyRichard1944MKenyanSOCIAL SCIENCE: anthropologist his son Richard . born 1944, Kenyan anthropologist, who discovered the remains of primitive man over 2 million years old in E Africa

Leakey

/ lē′kē /

1. Family of British scientists. Louis S(eymour) B(azett) (1903–1972) is known for fossil discoveries made in close collaboration with his wife Mary (1913–1996) of early humans. In 1959, while working in Tanzania, Africa, Mary Leakey uncovered skull and teeth fragments of a species the Leakeys named Zinjanthropus, since renamed Australopithecus boisei . The next year the Leakeys discovered remains of a larger-brained species, Homo habilis. Their discoveries provided powerful evidence that human ancestors were of greater age than was previously thought, and that they had evolved in Africa rather than in Asia. Their son Richard (born 1944) and his wife Meave (born 1942) have continued the family's research and discoveries. In 2001 Meave Leakey discovered a skull belonging to an entirely new genus, called Kenyanthropus platyops and believed to be 3.5 million years old.

Leakey

1. A family of anthropologists whose work at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and elsewhere revealed that humans probably first evolved in Africa . Louis Leakey and his wife, Mary, discovered fossils of human ancestors dating back over 3.75 million years. Their son, Richard Leakey, continued to make discoveries in Kenya and Tanzania.

Biography

The discoveries made by the famous Leakey family of anthropologists and paleontologists are nowadays so familiar (at least in their general import) that we can easily forget how much they changed our views of hominid evolution. Before Louis and his wife Mary made their first major discoveries, it was widely thought that humans had originated in Asia. This was because our immediate ancestor, Homo erectus, had been discovered in East and Southeast Asia, and for a long time its best and oldest fossil remains came from there (such as the famous “Java Man” and “Peking Man”). The Leakeys' discoveries of an earlier hominid species, Homo habilis, showed not only that hominid evolution was a good deal earlier than previously thought, but also that it had been centered in East Africa. Interestingly, Louis Leakey had (at least indirectly) almost as much influence on the study of modern primates as he did on the study of ancient ones: he persuaded Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey to live among gorillas and chimpanzees to study their behavior over long periods of time.

Example Sentences

Her supervisor and mentor, Professor Louis Leakey, though, saw the value in her technique: “He wanted somebody whose mind wasn't messed up by the reductionist attitude of science to animals,” Dr Goodall explains.

From BBC

More recently, Spoor and Leakey applied 3D morphometric methods to compare Kenyanthropus’s upper jaw with those of a half-dozen other hominins, and convinced many researchers to take it seriously as a separate species.

From Science Magazine

The research was funded by grants Chester and Crowell secured through Brooklyn College from the National Science Foundation and The Leakey Foundation.

From Science Daily

Lewis Ranch in Leakey, Texas, said the property would open up to host about 350 guests in two different areas, mostly for basic camping but with a few R.V. hookups.

From New York Times

According to a report by the Leakey Foundation, Borneo has witnessed a distressing loss of over 100,000 orangutans over a 16-year period due to extensive changes in land cover and habitat destruction.

From Salon