Desmond Morris, the legendary zoologist, author, artist and TV presenter, best known for his book The Naked Ape, has died at the age of 98.
Morris’s death was confirmed in a statement from his son Jason, who said that it followed “a lifetime of exploration, curiosity and creativity”.
“A zoologist, manwatcher, author and artist, he was still writing and painting right up until his death. He was a great man and an even better father and grandfather,” the statement said.
Morris was born on 24 January 1928 in Purton, near Swindon. He went on to serve two years of national service in the British army and become a lecturer in fine arts at the Army College, before studying zoology at Birmingham University. Throughout his course, he refused to do animal experiments, and instead simply studied their behaviour.
In 1956, he became Head of the Granada TV and Film Unit for the Zoological Society of London, and later became the zoo’s curator of mammals.
In 1967, his book The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal was published, looking at humans from a zoological perspective and framing our behaviour in evolutionary terms.
Over the years he wrote many more books and presented many TV programmes, while continuing to produce and exhibit artworks, and investigate animal behaviours. He experimented with a chimp named Congo by giving him a paintbrush, in order to prove that artistic expression could be found elsewhere in the animal kingdom.
His TV work included such series as Zoo Time, Life in the Animal World, The Animal Contract, The Human Animal and The Human Sexes.
In 2017, a BBC programme titled The Secret Surrealist showcased Morris and his artwork, examining his ‘double-life’ as a painter.
Morris died in Ireland, where he had lived since the death of his wife, Ramona, in 2018.
Since news of his passing, tributes have been paid to Morris, including by journalist, broadcaster and author Matthew Sweet.
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He wrote in a post on X: “Let us salute the rogue genius of Desmond Morris, ape-watcher and last of the Surrealists, gone at 98. Here he is, less than 2 years ago, with his Man Ray tribute work – the photographic lips are those of Diana Dors, whom he dated in the 40s when she was still Diana Fluck.”
