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All Richard Leakey Quotes
For fossils to thrive, certain favorable circumstances are required. First of all, of course, remnants of life have to be there. These then need to be washed over with water as soon as possible, so that the bones are covered with a layer of sediment.
Richard Leakey
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Primates need good nutrition, to begin with. Not only fruits and plants, but insects as well.
Richard Leakey
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To investigate the history of man's development, the most important finds are, of course, hominid fossils.
Richard Leakey
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We hope to find more pieces of the puzzle which will shed light on the connection between this upright, walking ape, our early ancestor, and modern man.
Richard Leakey
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Paleoanthropology is not a science that ends with the discovery of a bone. One has to have the original to work with. It is a life-long task.
Richard Leakey
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Earlier, 100,000 elephants lived in Kenya and we didn't have any noteworthy problem with it. The problem that we have is not that there are now more elephants.
Richard Leakey
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We think that groups of between 30 and 40 early men would have settled in an area measuring a hundred square kilometers.
Richard Leakey
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The elephants were being slaughtered in masses. Some were even killed in the vicinity of big tourist hotels.
Richard Leakey
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I would hazard a guess that we have found fossilized human remains of at least a thousand different specimens in South and East Africa, more or less complete at that. I think this is where the prelude to human history was primarily played out.
Richard Leakey
51% of people like this quote
The problem is that during the 1980s, a decade of heavy poaching, the elephants retreated to safer areas. And now people have moved into the corridors once used by the elephants.
Richard Leakey
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The land is not in the least bit fertile and yet the cattle herds grow larger and larger. A cow represents capital investment here.
Richard Leakey
48% of people like this quote
I can't think of any other region in the world which is such a vast source of fossils.
Richard Leakey
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One should not forget that there are very few surviving items from this period, often just single, small bones, a tooth, a sliver of the skull. Categorizing these pieces can be very difficult.
Richard Leakey
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A number of scientists with greatly different backgrounds can come up with completely different assessments. The discussions or controversies are endless. Once a year, we try to bring the most important discoverers together to exchange their experiences and knowledge.
Richard Leakey
47% of people like this quote
I, too, am convinced that our ancestors came from Africa.
Richard Leakey
46% of people like this quote
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