Desmond John Morris FLS ''hon. caus.'' (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist,

ethologist Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and object ...

and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book ''

The Naked Ape ''The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal'' is a 1967 book by English zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris that looks at humans as a species and compares them to other animals. '' The Human Zoo'', a follow-up book by Morris ...

'', and for his television programmes such as ''Zoo Time''.

Early life

Morris was born in

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. ...

, Wiltshire, to Marjorie (née Hunt) and children's fiction author Harry Morris. In 1933, the Morrises moved to Swindon where Desmond developed an interest in natural history and writing. He was educated at Dauntsey's School, a boarding school in Wiltshire. In 1946, Morris joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

for two years of national service, becoming a lecturer in

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

at the Chiseldon Army College in Wiltshire. After being demobilised in 1948, he held his first one-man show of his own paintings at the

Swindon Arts Centre Swindon Arts Centre is a 212-seat entertainment venue located in the Old Town area of Swindon, Wiltshire, England.zoology at the University of Birmingham. In 1950 he held a surrealist art exhibition with Joan Miró at the London Gallery. He held many other exhibitions in later years. Also in 1950, Desmond Morris wrote and directed two surrealist films, ''Time Flower'' and ''The Butterfly and the Pin''. In 1951 he began a doctorate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford in

animal behaviour Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. Behaviourism as a term also describes the scientific and objective ...

. In 1954, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy for his work on the reproductive behaviour of the

ten-spined stickleback The ninespine stickleback (''Pungitius pungitius''), also called the ten-spined stickleback, is a freshwater species of fish in the family Gasterosteidae that inhabits temperate waters. It is widely but locally distributed throughout Eurasia and ...

Career

Morris stayed at Oxford, researching the reproductive behaviour of birds. In 1956 he moved to London as Head of the Granada TV and Film Unit for the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

, and studied the picture-making abilities of apes. The work included creating programmes for film and television on animal behaviour and other zoology topics. He hosted Granada TV's weekly ''Zoo Time'' programme until 1959, scripting and hosting 500 programmes, and 100 episodes of the show ''Life in the Animal World'' for

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. In 1957 he organised an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, showing paintings and drawings composed by

common chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

s. In 1958 he co-organised an exhibition, ''The Lost Image'', which compared pictures by infants, human adults, and apes, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. In 1959 he left ''Zoo Time'' to become the Zoological Society's Curator of Mammals. In 1964, he delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on ''Animal Behaviour''. In 1967 he spent a year as executive director of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts. Morris's books include '' The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal'', published in 1967. The book sold well enough for Morris to move to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in 1968 to write a sequel and other books. In 1973 he returned to Oxford to work for the ethologist Niko Tinbergen. From 1973 to 1981, Morris was a Research Fellow at

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research an ...

. In 1979 he undertook a television series for

Thames TV Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

, ''The Human Race'', followed in 1982 by ''Man Watching in Japan'', ''The Animals Road Show'' in 1986 and then several other series. Morris wrote and presented the BBC documentary The Human Animal and its accompanying book in 1994.

National Life Stories National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...

conducted an oral history interview (C1672/16) with Desmond Morris in 2015 for its Science and Religion collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Morris, Desmond (1 of 2) National Life Stories Collection: Science and Religion', The British Library Board, 2015
. Retrieved 9 October 2017 Morris is a Fellow ''honoris causa'' of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

Personal life

Morris's father suffered lung damage in World War I, and died when Morris was 14. His mother would not let him attend the funeral and he was sent off to friends in the countryside. He later said, "It was the beginning of a lifelong hatred of the establishment. The church, the government and the military were all on my hate list and have remained there ever since." His grandfather William Morris, an enthusiastic Victorian naturalist and founder of the Swindon local newspaper, greatly influenced him during his time living in Swindon. In July 1952, Morris married Ramona Baulch; they had one son, Jason. In 1978, Morris was elected vice-chairman of

Oxford United F.C. Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

Morris lived in the same house in North Oxford as the 19th-century lexicographer James Murray who worked on the '' Oxford English Dictionary''. He has exhibited at the Taurus Gallery in North Parade, Oxford, close to where he lived. He is the patron of the Friends of

Swindon Museum and Art Gallery Swindon Museum and Art Gallery is a mothballed museum in Swindon, Wiltshire, England, which is currently closed while a new venue is sought. Collections The Swindon Art Gallery collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H. J. P. ...

and gave a talk to launch the charity in 1993. Since the death of his wife in 2018 he has lived with his son and family in Ireland.

Bibliography

Books

* * ''The Big Cats'' (1965) – part of

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adu ...

Natural Science Picture Books, looking at the habits of the five

Big Cats The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. Despite enormous differences in size, various cat species are quite similar ...

. * ''The Mammals: A Guide to the Living Species'' (1965) – a listing of mammal genera, non-rodent non-bat species, and additional information on select species. * ''Men and Pandas'' (1966) with Ramona Morris – third volume in the Ramona and Desmond Morris animal series. * – a look at the humanity's animalistic qualities and its similarity with other apes. In 2011, ''Time'' magazine placed it on its list of the 100 best or most influential non-fiction books written in English since 1923. * ''Men and Snakes'' (1968) with Ramona Morris – an exploration of the various complex relationships between humans and snakes * '' The Human Zoo'' (1969) – a continuation of ''The Naked Ape'', analysing human behaviour in big modern societies and their resemblance to animal behaviour in captivity. * ''Patterns of Reproductive Behavior'' (1970) * ''Intimate Behaviour'' (1971) – A study of the human side of intimate behaviour, examining how natural selection shaped human physical contact. * ''Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behaviour'' (1978) – includes discussion of topic "

Tie Signs Tie signs are signs, signals, and symbols, that are revealed through people's actions as well as objects such as engagement rings, wedding bands, and photographs of a personal nature that suggest a relationship exists between two people. For romant ...

" * ''Gestures: Their Origin and Distribution'' (1979) * ''Animal Days'' (1979) * ''The Soccer Tribe'' (1981) * ''Pocket Guide to Manwatching'' (1982) * ''Inrock'' (1983) * ''Bodywatching – A Field Guide to the Human Species'' (1985) * ''The Book of Ages: Who Did What When'' (1985) * ''The Art of Ancient Cyprus (1985) * ''Catwatching and Cat Lore'' (1986) * ''Dogwatching'' (1986) * ''Horsewatching'' (1989) * ''Animalwatching'' (1990) * ''Babywatching'' (1991) * ''Christmas Watching'' (1992) * ''Bodytalk'' (1994) * '' The Human Animal'' (1994) – book and BBC documentary TV series * ''The Human Sexes'' (1997) – Discovery/BBC documentary TV series * ''Cat World: A Feline Encyclopedia'' (1997) * ''The Secret Surrealist: The Paintings of Desmond Morris'' (1999) * ''Body Guards: Protective Amulets and Charms'' (1999) * ''The Naked Eye'' (2001) * '' Dogs: The Ultimate Dictionary of over 1,000 Dog Breeds'' (2001) * ''Peoplewatching: The Desmond Morris Guide to Body Language'' (2002) * '' The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body'' (2004) * ''Linguaggio muto (Dumb Language)'' (2004) * ''The Nature of Happiness'' (2004) * ''Watching'' (2006) * ''Fantastic Cats'' (2007) * ''The Naked Man: A Study of the Male Body'' (2008) * ''Baby: A Portrait of the First Two Years of Life'' (2008) * ''Planet Ape'' (2009) (co-authored with teve Parker * ''Owl'' (2009) – Part of the ''

Reaktion Books Reaktion Books is an independent book publisher based in Islington, London, England. It was founded in 1985 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and moved to London in 1987. Reaktion originally focused on the fields of art, architecture, and design. In rec ...

'' ''Animal'' series * ''The Artistic Ape'' (2013) * ''Monkey'' (2013) – Part of the ''

'' ''Animal'' series * ''Leopard'' (2014) – Part of the ''

'' ''Animal'' series * ''Bison'' (2015) – Part of the ''

'' ''Animal'' series * ''Cats in Art'' (2017) – Part of the ''

'' ''Animal'' series * ''The Lives of the Surrealists'' (2018) * ''Postures: Body Language in Art'' (2019) * ''The British Surrealists'' (2022)

Book reviews

Filmography

* ''Zootime'' (Weekly, 1956–67) * ''Life'' (1965–67) * ''The Human Race'' (1982) * ''The Animals Roadshow'' (1987–89) * ''The Animal Contract'' (1989) * ''Animal Country'' (1991–96) * '' The Human Animal'' (1994) * ''The Human Sexes'' (1997)

Criticism

Some of Morris's theories have been criticized as untestable. For instance, geneticist

Adam Rutherford Adam David Rutherford (born 1975) is a British geneticist and science populariser. He was an audio-visual content editor for the journal ''Nature'' for a decade, and is a frequent contributor to the newspaper ''The Guardian''. He hosts the BBC R ...

writes that Morris commits "the scientific sin of the 'just-so' story – speculation that sounds appealing but cannot be tested or is devoid of evidence". However, this is also a criticism of adaptationism in evolutionary biology, not just of Morris. Morris is also criticized for stating that gender roles have a deep evolutionary rather than cultural background.

References

External links

Official website
including a complete biography * *
Dinjet il-Qattus/Catlore by Desmond Morris
translated into Maltese by Toni Aquilina, D es Litt. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Desmond 1928 births Military personnel from Wiltshire 20th-century British Army personnel Living people 20th-century British artists 20th-century British writers 21st-century British artists 21st-century British writers British contemporary artists Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Birmingham English curators English painters English science writers English television presenters English zoologists Ethologists Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of Wolfson College, Oxford Founding members of the World Cultural Council Human evolution theorists People educated at Dauntsey's School People from Purton British surrealist artists The New York Review of Books people