63 YEARS
OUR HISTORY

The idea to start a primate research centre in Kenya was mooted in 1958 when Dr. LSB Leakey was visiting Ghana. He found that his friend, Dr. Alan Angus Booth, had died very suddenly after about nine years of primate research work in Ghana, which he had carried out jointly with his wife, Cynthia Booth. Both of them had been known to LSB Dr. LSB Leakey for a long time, and both were very highly qualified Cambridge University graduates in Biology and Animal Behavior. Dr. LSB Leakey enquired of Cynthia what she planned to do now that her husband had died, and she said that she would finish off the publication of their latest joint report, and wind current research, and then she would wish to leave Ghana. After pondering the matter for 24 hours, LSB suggested the next day that she should come and continue research on monkeys with a base somewhere near Nairobi. Accordingly, at the end of 1958 she arrived in Kenya, and the Tigoni Primate Research Centre came into existence.
GROUND-BREAKING RESEARCH TO IMPROVE HUMAN HEALTH

Welcome to the Institute of Primate Research. This is a 63-year-old premier biomedical Scientific Research Institution that was started by Dr. LSB Leakey. His objective was to study monkey behaviour so that it can give an insight into behaviour of early man. Functions of IPR have since expanded to include
biomedical research, laboratory animal science and Conservation biology.
MEET THE ADMINISTRATION
