Fossil Hunter Condemns Lucy Tour of U.S.

Conservationist Richard Leakey speak to the Associated Press during an interview at his office, Friday, Aug. 10, 2007 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Ethiopia's decision to send the Lucy skeleton on a six-year-tour of the United States is akin to prostituting the fragile, 3.2 million year-old fossil, conservationist Richard Leakey said Friday. The Lucy skeleton, one of the world's most famous fossils, was quietly flown out of Ethiopia earlier this week for the U.S. tour, which many experts say is a dangerous gamble with an irreplaceable relic. (AP Photo/Khaled Kazziha) (Khaled Kazziha - AP)

Stops beyond Houston have yet to be finalized, but Ethiopian officials have said they include New York, Denver and Chicago.

Leakey said the skeleton will almost certainly get damaged.

"These specimens will get damaged no matter how careful you are and every time she is moved there is a risk," he said. "A specimen that is that precious and unique shouldn't be exposed to the threats of damage by travel."

He also said keeping Lucy in Ethiopia would lure tourists to the country.

"The point is, what is the benefit of taking one of the most iconic examples of the human story from Africa to parade it around in second-level museums in the United States?" he said.

Leakey is one of the world's most renowned paleontologists. His team unearthed the bones of Turkana Boy _ the most complete skeleton of a prehistoric human ever found _ in the desolate, far northern reaches of Kenya in 1984.

He is also a conservationist credited with helping end the slaughter of elephants in Kenya during the 1980s.

___

Associated Press Writer John Peretto contributed to this story from Houston