We are concerned that, in a few years time, this place of discovery, with its wealth of human fossils, the like of which can be found nowhere else in the world, could be completely destroyed.

The poaching menace was dramatically reduced. The curator Robert Carcasson resigned in protest and Richard was left with the museum at his command which he like Louis before him used as a base of operations. It was from a casual aerial survey that he noted the potential of Lake Natron's shores for paleontology.

He is second of the three sons of the archaeologists Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey and is the younger brother of Colin Leakey. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (born 19 December 1944 in Nairobi) is a politician paleoanthropologist and conservationist.