Conservationist and paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey will speak on the plight of Africa’s wildlife on November 3, when he visits Yale University as a Chubb Fellow.
His talk, “Wildlife Wars: The Fight to Save Africa’s National Treasures,” will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Sudler Hall of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. It is free and open to the public.
The son of famed paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, Richard Leakey has been credited with some of the 20th century’s most important paleo-anthropologic finds, including the 1984 discovery near Kenya’s Lake Turkana of “Turkana Boy” — a homo erectus some 1.6 million years old and one of the most complete skeletons from this era ever found. He and his team, nicknamed “The Hominid Gang,” have unearthed more than 200 fossils since Leakey took part in his first expedition in 1967.
As director of the Kenya Wildlife Service 1989-1994 and 1998-1999, Leakey spearheaded efforts to end elephant poaching, drawing international support for a ban on the trade of ivory and raising over $150 million for wildlife conservation.
Author of nine books, including “Origins,” “People of the Lake” and his latest, a memoir titled “Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa’s Natural Treasures,” Leakey has been featured in numerous television documentaries and programs; among them the seven-part BBC documentary “The Making of Mankind” and NBC’s “Earthwatch.”
Leakey served as director of the National Museums of Kenya, 1968-1989. After losing both legs in an airplane crash in 1993, he turned his attention from fieldwork to conservation and environmental issues. He is currently a visiting professor of anthropology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
The Chubb Fellowship encourages and aids Yale students interested in the operations of government and in public service. Established in 1936 through the generosity of Hendon Chubb (Yale 1895), the program is based in Timothy Dwight College. Each year, distinguished men and women are appointed as Visiting Chubb Fellows. Former fellows include Harry Blackmun, Toni Morrison and George Pataki.
