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Richard Leakey, a renowned Kenyan conservationist whose work was frequently featured in film and television documentaries, died today at age 77. Details on what he died from and where were not revealed.

The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta issued the announcement of his death.

“I have this afternoon… received with deep sorrow the sad news of the passing away of Dr Richard Erskine Frere Leakey, Kenya’s former Head of Public Service,” said Kenyatta.

Leakey was the middle son of famed paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey. He had no formal archaeological training of his own, but led expeditions in the 1970s that made groundbreaking discoveries of early hominid fossils.

His work was frequently spotlighted on film and television programming. His appearances included PBS’s Nova, CBS’s 60 Minutes, several National Geographic specials, and the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens, among other programming.

Leakey’s most famous find came in 1984, when he...

Producer Christine Forsyth Peters has acquired big-screen rights to Richard Leakey's memoir Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures. Published in 2001, the book chronicles the famed paleoanthropologist and conservationist's efforts to stop elephant poaching in the Kenyan National Parks, a quest that put his life in danger. In 1993, Leakey was flying a small propeller-driven plane that crashed, crushing his lower legs, both of which were later amputated. Sabotage was suspected but never proved. Nairobi-born Leakey hails from scientific royalty as the son of renowned archeologist Louis Leakey and paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey. He is the author of such

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Though Feb. 6 happens to be National Frozen Yogurt Day, Nutella Day, and — on a different note — Lame Duck Day, Google has chosen to go in another direction with today’s Doodle. The drawing celebrates the 100th birthday of Mary Leakey, a trailblazing British archaeologist and anthropologist famous for discovering the first skull of a prehistoric primate called the Proconsul.

Leakey got her start in archaeology by establishing herself “as an authority on flint points,” according to her website. She and her husband, fellow scientist Louis Leakey, uncovered a host of fossilized wonders in Africa, including the earliest known expert stone...