Word: leakey
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...left to cope with a habitat that is shrinking daily, as agribusiness firms continue their relentless drive to turn Kalimantan's forests into palm-oil plantations. "I cannot convey the horror of it," says Canadian primatologist Birute Galdikas, a protégé of the late naturalist Louis Leakey and the world's leading authority on orangutans...
...diplomats are venturing into a country with a power vacuum. "I think Kibaki is getting very poor advice. He's showing no personal leadership in this crisis; I'm not quite sure who around him is making the decisions," says Richard Leakey, the world famous paleontologist and chairman of WildlifeDirect.org, who is active in Kenyan politics as an anti-corruption campaigner. "I think that's a large part of the problem - the country feels at sea without a captain. But ODM has made some pretty outrageous statements too. Everybody is playing bad guy on this and nobody is trying...
Scientists like Leakey aren't the only ones who object to the impending exhibit. The Ethiopian Community Organization in Houston (ECOH), which represents some 6,000 area residents, has voiced concerns about the Houston museum's willingness to deal with the Ethiopian government, which the ECOH calls a corrupt and repressive regime. Although museum officials have met with ECOH several times, the outreach effort failed and ECOH now openly opposes the show. Bartsch, for one, thinks that's unfortunate. "Lucy is a goodwill ambassador; she represents the neutrality of science," he says...
...come to see Lucy in Houston or on tour might come to see Ethiopia too. But scientists say that argument is wrongheaded. "People will go to Ethiopia to see Lucy, but why should they travel to Ethiopia if Lucy has come to their local museum?" says paleontologist Richard Leakey. "Sending Lucy or any other original fossil to America will bring status to second-level U.S. museums. It will do nothing for Ethiopian tourism or for science. It sets a terrible precedent. It is exploitation of the worst kind...
...injure her. No matter how carefully she is handled, scientists say, the bones will invariably be damaged, if only microscopically. "This iconic fossil is a unique biological specimen that should never be placed at risk: travel, packing, unpacking and handling exposes the skeleton to dangers that are unacceptable," says Leakey. "The decision to send Lucy on tour to the U.S. and perhaps elsewhere is to be deplored by any right-minded person." Researchers also argue that risking an original, one-of-a-kind artifact is senseless, especially when a replica could do the job just as well. Indeed, dozens...