The Leakey Foundation
@leakeyfoundation.org
We're a nonprofit on a mission to explore and explain the human story. We're here to make friends and talk about science.
Looking for research funding? Is your work relevant to understanding human origins? Our next deadline is July 15! Learn more and apply! #ScienceFunding #HumanEvolution leakeyfoundation.org/grants-schol...
July 8, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Looking for research funding? Is your work relevant to understanding human origins? Our next deadline is July 15! Learn more and apply! #ScienceFunding #HumanEvolution leakeyfoundation.org/grants-schol...
Need a last minute #StandUpForScience sign? Head to our website and download our free graphic. We have 3 sizes and 2 colorways. leakeyfoundation.org/stand-up-for...
March 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Need a last minute #StandUpForScience sign? Head to our website and download our free graphic. We have 3 sizes and 2 colorways. leakeyfoundation.org/stand-up-for...
Happy Darwin Day! “There is grandeur in this view of life–that from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
February 12, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Happy Darwin Day! “There is grandeur in this view of life–that from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
Photos 3,4 and 6 form part of the Wits University Archives and are published with kind permission of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in South Africa. We're grateful to them for allowing us to share these wonderful photos!
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Photos 3,4 and 6 form part of the Wits University Archives and are published with kind permission of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in South Africa. We're grateful to them for allowing us to share these wonderful photos!
This amazing fossil also had what's called an endocast of the brain, which you can see here. An endocast is a fossil impression of the inside of a hollow object, like a skull. This captured the shape and size of the Taung Child's brain, giving Dart an important clue that this was a human relative.
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
This amazing fossil also had what's called an endocast of the brain, which you can see here. An endocast is a fossil impression of the inside of a hollow object, like a skull. This captured the shape and size of the Taung Child's brain, giving Dart an important clue that this was a human relative.
Dart recognized this was something special and spent over two months scraping away the surrounding limestone with knitting needles. He described the fossil in the journal Nature on February 7, 1925, giving it the species name Australopithecus africanus, which means the "southern ape from Africa."
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Dart recognized this was something special and spent over two months scraping away the surrounding limestone with knitting needles. He described the fossil in the journal Nature on February 7, 1925, giving it the species name Australopithecus africanus, which means the "southern ape from Africa."
The Taung Child skull was discovered in 1924 by workers at a South African rock quarry who had blasted it out of the limestone quarry wall. Josephine Salmons, a medical student at the University of the Witwatersrand saw the skull on a friend’s mantelpiece and brought to her professor, Raymond Dart.
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
The Taung Child skull was discovered in 1924 by workers at a South African rock quarry who had blasted it out of the limestone quarry wall. Josephine Salmons, a medical student at the University of the Witwatersrand saw the skull on a friend’s mantelpiece and brought to her professor, Raymond Dart.
This important fossil confirmed Africa as the birthplace of humanity and revolutionized our understanding of evolution.
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
This important fossil confirmed Africa as the birthplace of humanity and revolutionized our understanding of evolution.
This tiny fossilized skull belonged to a 3-year-old child that lived around 2.8 million years ago! Today we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of the Taung Child, Australopithecus africanus. #onthisday
February 7, 2025 at 7:32 PM
This tiny fossilized skull belonged to a 3-year-old child that lived around 2.8 million years ago! Today we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of the Taung Child, Australopithecus africanus. #onthisday
We're thrilled to introduce the fall 2024 Francis H. Brown African Scholars! This award recognizes and supports outstanding East African students and researchers whose work is focused on the earth sciences or botany related to human origins. leakeyfoundation.org/fall-2024-fr...
January 29, 2025 at 12:46 AM
We're thrilled to introduce the fall 2024 Francis H. Brown African Scholars! This award recognizes and supports outstanding East African students and researchers whose work is focused on the earth sciences or botany related to human origins. leakeyfoundation.org/fall-2024-fr...