Editing Richard Leakey (section)

==Early life==
===Earliest years===
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey was born on 19 December 1944 in [[Nairobi]].<ref name="nytobit">{{Cite news|last1=Lukpat|first1=Alyssa|last2=Chung|first2=Christine|date=2022-01-03|title=Richard Leakey, Kenyan Fossil Hunter and Conservationist, Dies at 77|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/africa/richard-leakey-dead.html|access-date=2022-01-03|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As a small boy, Leakey lived in Nairobi with his parents: [[Louis Leakey]], curator of the Coryndon Museum, and [[Mary Leakey]], director of the Leakey excavations at [[Olduvai Gorge|Olduvai]], and his two brothers, Jonathan and [[Philip Leakey|Philip]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Richard E. Leakey Biography and Interview |website=www.achievement.org | publisher=[[Academy of Achievement]] | url=https://achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/}}</ref> The Leakey brothers had a very active childhood. All the boys had ponies and belonged to the Langata Pony Club.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kashyap |first1=Nitin |title=Kenyan Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey Passed Away at 77 Family |url=https://www.uptobrain.com/richard-leakey-death-reason-kenyan-paleoanthropologist-richard-leakey-passed-away-at-77-family/ |website=Up To Brain |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 January 2022}}</ref> Sometimes the whole club were guests at the Leakeys' for holidays and vacations. Leakey's parents founded the Dalmatian Club of East Africa and won a prize in 1957.<ref name="louis">{{cite web |title=Louis Leakey, Famed Paleoanthropolgist and Dalmatian Fancier |url=https://nationalpurebreddogday.com/louis-leakey-famed-paleoanthropolgist-and-dalmatian-fancier/#:~:text=The%20Leakeys%20founded%20the%20Dalmatian,leopards%2C%20snakes%20and%20other%20dangers. |website=National Purebred Dog Day |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=5 August 2017}}</ref> Dogs and many other pets shared the Leakey home.<ref name="louis" /> The Leakey boys participated in games conducted by both adults and children, in which they tried to imitate early humans, catching [[Pedetes|springhare]] and small antelope by hand on the [[Serengeti]]. They drove lions and [[jackal]]s from the kill to see if they could do it.<ref name=ancestralpassions18>{{cite book| first= Virginia| last= Morell| author-link= Virginia Morell| title= Ancestral Passions|year= 1995| chapter= 18: Richard Makes his Move}}</ref>

===Fractured skull===
In 1956, aged eleven, Leakey fell from his horse, fracturing his skull and nearly dying as a result.<ref name="natgeo-obit">{{cite web |last1=Stone |first1=Andrea |title=Richard Leakey, trailblazing conservationist and fossil hunter, dies at 77 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/richard-leakey-trailblazing-conservationist-and-fossil-hunter-dies-at-77 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102220913/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/richard-leakey-trailblazing-conservationist-and-fossil-hunter-dies-at-77 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 January 2022 |website=National Geographic |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=2 January 2022}}</ref> Incidentally, it was this incident that saved his parents' marriage.<ref name="natgeo-obit" /> Louis was seriously considering leaving Mary for his secretary, Rosalie Osborn. As the battle with Mary raged in the household, Leakey begged his father from his sickbed not to leave. That was the deciding factor. Louis broke up with Rosalie and the family lived in happy harmony for a few years more.<ref name="morell">Morell, Virginia (1995). Chapter 17, "Chimpanzees and Other Loves", in ''Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings''. {{ISBN|978-0684824703}}.</ref>

===Teenage entrepreneur===
Leakey chose to support himself, borrowed £500 from his parents for a [[Land Rover]] and went into the trapping and skeleton supply business with [[Kamoya Kimeu]].<ref name="finders">{{cite web |title=Fossil Finders: Kamoya Kimeu |url=https://leakeyfoundation.org/fossil-finders-kamoya-kimeu/ |website=The Leakey Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=13 April 2018}}</ref> Already a skilled horseman, outdoorsman, Land Rover mechanic, amateur archaeologist, and expedition leader,<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Paul |title=Drive, Luck and the Leakey Genes |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/10/03/drive-luck-and-the-leakey-genes/8c9410c9-b72b-45a4-bcc5-19c067790196/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=3 October 1978}}</ref> he learned to identify bones, skills which all pointed to a path he did not yet wish to take, simply because his father was on it.<ref>Richard E. Leakey in ''The Making of Mankind'' (1981), Chapter 1, p. 1, says he wished to be "free" of his parents' world, a sentiment both Louis and Mary must have understood very well, even though they opposed his freedom.</ref>

The bone business turned into a safari business in 1961.<ref>{{cite web |title=Portrait: Richard Leakey |url=https://www.theguardian.com/g2/story/0,3604,565776,00.html |website=The Guardian |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=9 October 2001}}</ref> In 1962, he obtained a private pilot licence and took tours to the [[Olduvai Gorge]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewin |first1=Roger |title=The Old Man of Olduvai Gorge |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-old-man-of-olduvai-gorge-69246530/ |journal=Smithsonian |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |date=October 2002|volume=33 |issue=7 |pages=82–88 |pmid=17211962 }}</ref> It was from a casual aerial survey that he noted the potential of [[Lake Natron]]'s shores for palaeontology. He went looking for fossils in a Land Rover, but could find none, until his parents assigned [[Glynn Isaac]] to go with him.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Bernard |title=A Very Special Archaeologist |url=https://cashp.columbian.gwu.edu/very-special-archaeologist |website=Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology |publisher=The George Washington University |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=5 October 2015}}</ref> Louis was so impressed with their finds that he gave them [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] money for a month's expedition.<ref>Morell, 1995, Chapter 18, "Richard Makes his Move." Besides Leakey and Glynn, the roster included Barbara Isaac, [[Philip Leakey]], [[Hugo van Lawick]] and six of Mary's African assistants.</ref> They explored in the vicinity of Peninj near the lake, where Leakey was in charge of the administrative details. Bored, he returned to Nairobi temporarily, but at that moment, Kamoya Kimeu discovered a fossil of ''[[Australopithecus boisei]]''.<ref name="finders"/> A second expedition left Leakey feeling that he was being excluded from the most significant part of the operation, the scientific analysis.<ref name="finders"/>

===Marriage===
In 1964, on his second Lake Natron expedition, Leakey met an archaeologist named Margaret Cropper.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leakey, Richard |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/leakey-richard |website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref> When Margaret returned to England, Leakey decided to follow suit to study for a degree and become better acquainted with her. He completed his high school requirements in six months; meanwhile Margaret obtained her degree at the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/03/richard-leakey-obituary |website=The Guardian |access-date=4 January 2022 |language=en |date=3 January 2022}}</ref> He passed the entrance exams for admission to college, but in 1965 he and Margaret decided to marry and return to Kenya. His father offered him a job at the Centre for Prehistory and Palaeontology.<ref>{{cite web |title=Richard Leakey |url=https://ffrf.org/ftod-cr/item/14913-richard-leakey |website=Freedom from Religion Foundation |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en-gb}}</ref>  He worked excavating at [[Lake Baringo]] and continued his photographic safari business, making enough money to buy a house in [[Karen, Kenya|Karen]], a pleasant suburb of Nairobi.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Church |first1=Lauren Belfer |title=A taste of paradise in the Kenyan wilderness |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0608/060859.html |website=Christian Science Monitor |access-date=3 January 2022 |date=8 June 1984}}</ref>  Their daughter Anna was born in 1969, the same year that Leakey and Margaret divorced.  He married his colleague [[Meave Leakey|Meave Epps]] in 1970 and they had two daughters, [[Louise Leakey|Louise]] (born 1972) and Samira (1974).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lukpat |first1=Alyssa |last2=Chung |first2=Christine |title=Richard Leakey, Kenyan Fossil Hunter and Conservationist, Dies at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/world/africa/richard-leakey-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 January 2022 |date=3 January 2022}}</ref>