The Great Apes Leakey’s Angels

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey ( ) Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey ( )  British / Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist who became famous for his academic work centered on human origins. Louis Leakey, his wife Mary, and their second son Richard made the key discoveries that have shaped our understanding of the first men.

Mary and Louis Leakey Mary and Louis Leakey

Richard Leakey "To me it's a question of being able to look backward and give the present a root... To give meaning to where we are today, we need to look at where we've have come from." (Richard Leakey, in National Geographic, February 1998) "To me it's a question of being able to look backward and give the present a root... To give meaning to where we are today, we need to look at where we've have come from." (Richard Leakey, in National Geographic, February 1998)

Leakey’s Angels  One of Leakey's greatest legacies stems from his role in fostering field research of primates in their natural habitats, which he understood as key to unraveling the mysteries of human evolution. Leakey personally chose three female researchers, later dubbed ‘Leakey’s Angels', who each went on to become giants in the field of primatology. Jane Goodall became the first of Leakey's Angels in 1957, when she began her first field study of chimpanzee culture in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. In 1967, Dian Fossey became Leakey's second Angel, beginning her extended study of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda. In 1971, Biruté Galdikas became the third, when she began field studies of Orangutans in the jungles of Borneo.

Jane Goodall

 Jane Goodall is the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, having closely observed their behavior for the past quarter century in the jungles of the Gombe Game Reserve in Africa, living in the chimps' environment and gaining their confidence.  Her observations and discoveries are internationally heralded. Her research and writing have made, and are making, revolutionary inroads into scientific thinking regarding the evolutions of humans.

Dian Fossey

 Through friends, Dian Fossey became interested in Africa and made a six week trip there in At Olduvai Gorge, she met Dr. Louis Leakey who impressed on her the importance of doing research on great apes. This meeting inspired her to study mountain gorillas.  By 1966 Fossey had persuaded Dr. Leakey to let her carry out research on the mountain gorillas, and gained support from the National Geographic Society.

Dian Fossey  Intense observation over thousands of hours enabled Dr. Fossey to earn the complete trust of the wild groups she studied and brought forth new knowledge concerning many previously unknown aspects of gorilla behavior. When poachers attacked and killed a young male named "Digit" to whom she had grown especially attached, she reacted by waging a public campaign against gorilla poaching.

Dian Fossey  Dr. Fossey was murdered in her cabin at Karisoke on December 26, Her death is a mystery yet unsolved. The last entry in her diary reads: "When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future."

Birutė Galdikas

 The orangutans were the least known of the great apes. Then Dr. Galdikas began to study them in the wild. Her research represents one of the longest continuous studies by a principal investigator of any mammal in the world. Through her sophisticated data analysis, she has shed light on their behavior and diet, which in turn have provided key information on the rainforest as a whole and a better understanding of Indonesia's biodiversity.