The plight of Africa's wildlife will be the subject of a talk on Monday, Nov. 3, by internationally known paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey, who will visit the campus as a Chubb Fellow.
His talk, titled "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 the famed paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, Richard Leakey has been credited with some of the 20th century's most successful paleoanthropologic finds, including the 1984 discovery near Kenya's Lake Turkana of a fossil dubbed "Turkana Boy" -- a homo erectus some 1.6 million years old and one of the most complete skeletons ever found. He and his team, nicknamed "The Hominid Gang," have unearthed more than 200 fossils since Leakey took part in his first fossil-hunting expedition in 1967.
As director of the Kenya Wildlife Service 1989-1994 and again 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.
He has written nine books, including "Origins," "People of the Lake," "The Sixth Extinction," "The Origin of Humankind" and his latest, a memoir titled "Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures." Leakey has also been featured on numerous television documentaries and programs; among them the seven-part BBC documentary "The Making of Mankind," which he presented and narrated in 1981, and NBC's "Earthwatch."
Leakey served as director of the National Museums of Kenya 1968-1989. He lost both legs in an airplane crash in 1993. He no longer conducts fieldwork, turning his attention instead to conservation and environmental issues.
He is currently a visiting professor of anthropology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where he is organizing an annual environmental forum that will gather 100 of the world's top scientists and government officials.
Leakey's many honors include the Humane Society's Joseph Wood Krutch Medal, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, and the Gold Medals of both the Scottish Geographical Society and the Royal Geographical Society, as well as the Companion of the Golden Ark and the Order of the Burning Spear from his native Kenya. Time Magazine named him one of its "100 Greatest Minds" of the 20th century.
The Chubb Fellowship is devoted to encouraging and aiding 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 Chubb Fellows include Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, New York Governor George Pataki, award-winning author Toni Morrison, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Oscar Arias, the late mambo master Tito Puente and Israeli statesman Shimon Peres.
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