'Turkana Boy,' Richard Leakey Meet In National Geographic's 'Bones Of Turkana' TV Special

"We began to realize with some clarity that we had made a remarkable discovery."

That's celebrated paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey talking about the fossilized proto-human unearthed by his team in East Africa in 1984-86. According to Leakey, the not-quite-human creature probably belonged to Homo erectus, an extinct species that lived about 1.5 million years ago (though other experts describe "Turkana boy' as an example of Homo ergaster). In any case, Turkana boy is the focus of "Bones of Turkana," a one-hour National Geographic special that premieres on PBS tonight at 10 p.m. EST.

"It wasn't us, but it was a big advance on what lived earlier in Africa," Leakey explains in this clip from the video, in which computer-generated imagery morphs the incomplete skeleton into an eerie, ghostlike avatar.

The bones are believed to have belonged to a pre-pubescent male between nine and 11 years of age, Leakey told The Huffington Post in an interview. The creature stood about 5'6" and had a brain about the size of a human two-year-old's.

What else do we know about Turkana boy?

The bones suggest the boy was bipedal, Leakey told HuffPost Science. And since the muscular energy required to walk upright generates significant body heat, we can assume that his body was essentially hairless--like that of Homo sapiens. Perspiration cools the body more efficiently if the skin is exposed to air than if it's covered with hair.

The creature depicted in the video has dark skin. Leakey—a professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y.—said that was probably an accurate depiction. If Homo erectus was essentially hairless, individuals "would have needed a lot of melanin to protect against the strong sunlight."

Want to see Turkana boy's avatar in action? Check out the video.

Comments

[JeremiahA]

01:39 AM on 05/27/2012

The headline reads "Scientist (Richard Leakey): Evolution debate will soon be history"

But why is this even a news story...?

"If you don't like the word evolution, I don't care what you call it, but life has changed."--Richard Leakey

Yes, life has changed. Things change over time. No one disagrees with this. Where the problem lies is in the ability of certain mechanisms to deliver the required results in the period of time with the resources we see are available...and this headline is a tacit admission that the evidence still does not exist for his form of "evolution."

"It's not covered by Genesis. There's no explanation for this change going back 500 million years in any book I've read from the lips of any God."--Richard Leakey

Well, then it is clear that he has not read Genesis. I do not mind his ignorance on the subject. I only wish that he was clearly admitted it.

It is comments like these that demean his work and detract from his discoveries...and he should really consider his words before speaking them.

[neurotraveller]

10:59 AM on 05/20/2012

The book Forbidden Archaeology blows this show away. I used to be a firm believer in the theory of evolution. Now I believe there is a very different process going on. I find the linear theory of evolution to be full of the arrogance of so called modern superiority and the racism of the idea that we all evolved from Africans because black people are the most physically primitive.

[Steve Rockett]

01:53 AM on 05/20/2012

DNA USA reveals that everyone in the southern states in the US has African-American DNA. Of course, they deny not only the findings, but the science as well. Ignorance may not be blissful, but it sure involves a lot of people.

[Steve Rockett]

01:51 AM on 05/20/2012

I can't wait for the complete world DNA mapping to be completed. I would love to know where we all came from I suspect there will be some astonishing findings and there will be lots of crazys denying the truth.

[Paco Luna]

12:07 PM on 05/17/2012

I watched and this was fascinating. A few years back, it was announced europeans and asians have 1% to 4% Neanderthal DNA. Recently, it was revealed sub saharan africans include an admixture three to five times as large with paleo-humans including a late middle pleistocene hominid. That human is quite probably Leakey's Homo Erectus. If you are interested, you should be able to find more info on Dienekes Anthropology Blog.

[tissa]

09:52 PM on 03/24/2013

Quite the opposite. Africans contain NO neanderthal DNA....FYI

[frmore]

02:06 AM on 03/26/2013

I did not say anything about Africans possessing Neanderthal DNA, yet some populations certainly do (introgression back into Africa). Learn to read. At any rate, since that was posted, there has been this:

http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2013/03/extremely-old-237581-kya-root-of-human.html

The discovery of an unbroken pre-human Y chromosome descendancy in certain Africans.

[newworldman777]

08:50 AM on 05/17/2012

I've admired the Leakeys since I was a little kid. My parents bought a set of World Book encyclopedias in the early 60s, and I became a complete nerd, constantly reading all about prehistory. Richard's father, Louis Leakey, loomed large in the field of paleontology during the early 60s, and he passed his obsession on to Richard, who is passing it on to his own daughter, Louise.

[greenlass]

08:29 AM on 05/17/2012

We are all African.

[Carachama]

07:56 AM on 05/17/2012

Leakey says he would have grown to about 5'6", not that he was 5'6" as a prepubescent male.

The find was remarkable because it was in a dry stream, found by accident. The next wet season, it probably would have been washed away. How many fantastic fossils are out there right now, just about exposed, that will be washed away in the next rainy season? This is why we need to fund these basic sciences. You don't find anything unless there are people out in the field looking. You might find nothing, or you might find the keys to our evolution.

[MontanaHome]

07:48 AM on 05/17/2012

Awesome. Missed it last night -- hope Nat'l Geo replays it.

[Leonard]

07:36 AM on 05/17/2012

wow amazing

[ZenSufi]

07:35 AM on 05/17/2012

Why did they name him Turkana "boy"? That's racist.

[Carachama]

07:57 AM on 05/17/2012

He was a boy found near Lake Turkana.

[orange county man]

08:08 AM on 05/17/2012

For the same reason people call you Doofus. You are from Doofusville.

[Einstein Was Right]

09:08 AM on 05/17/2012

lol

[billtmore]

07:25 AM on 05/17/2012

The dark skin will just infuriate the Right. They should make the Norway shooter watch this in his cell

[moremoneyfortherich]

01:44 AM on 05/18/2012

finding a 1.5 milllion year old skeleton in Africa? would infuriate who? no body knows what color the skeleton had , it could have been striped like a zebra --- it was a guess

[calltoaction]

06:57 AM on 05/17/2012

nope. didn't happen. my grandpa rode dinosaurs.

[newworldman777]

08:45 AM on 05/17/2012

Just watch the Flintstones. You can learn all about prehistoric life.

[onlyanopinion]

09:58 AM on 05/17/2012

How come he didn't use his foot pedal car?

[misterbloodvessel]

05:09 AM on 05/18/2012

I think they said they did find thick scamper-callouses on the bottom of his feet.......NOT..

[Rich914]

06:55 AM on 05/17/2012

It is truly shocking that Mitt Romney and some of his prep school buddies attacked Turkana boy and Romney cut off his hair while the others held him down, screaming in terror.

[CaroleK1970]

06:40 AM on 05/17/2012

T Mobile ads are backfiring, they are making me hate that company, tired of seeing them over and over

[anothervoice]

09:19 AM on 05/17/2012

If I can't hit pause or mute, I hit the back button.

And if I see more of it HuffPo, I get my information somewhere else.