Recently, the world was informed that Richard Leakey had passed away at the age of 77 on January 2, 2022. Richard Leakey is described by BBC and Britannica as a(n) fossil expert, author, conservationist, anti-corruption campaigner, economic reformer, and political figure. 

Richard Leakey was born in Nairobi. Eventually following into his parents’ footprints, he journeyed on an expedition where he uncovered stone tools and several fossils in the site of Koobi Fora. His findings were so significant that Koobi Fora became “the site of the richest and most varied assemblage of early human remains found to date anywhere in the world” (2). He wrote several books on his discoveries and took several controversial stances on the origin of human evolution, making himself well-known among the fossil community. 

In the next important chapter of his life, Leakey was made the “director of the National Museums of Kenya” (2), then the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). He made many choices as the head of the KWS, with the most notable being fighting corruption among the organization and actively using aggressive measures against ivory poachers. These aggressive measures include “[telling] his rangers to shoot poachers on sight and [organizing] the public burning of a huge cache of ivory as a publicity stunt to draw global attention to the threat faced by elephants” (1). 

However, his ruthless actions of conservation caused many people to oppose him. He lost a part of both of his legs due to a plane crash; Leakey and many others suspected that his rivals had caused the plane to crash. After leaving the KWS, he would create a political party “to campaign for multi-party democracy” (1), only to return to the KWS (although briefly). 

Finally, Leakey spent his time writing books and lecturing about wildlife and environmental conservation, then founded a nonprofit organization “designed to disseminate information about endangered species and to connect donors to conservation efforts” called WildlifeDirect (2). Then, he once again returned to the KWS in 2015 as the chairman.

Sources: 

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59833131

2. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Leakey