Mastodawn

RIP, Desmond Morris. I appreciate how he popularized zoology and ethology, even if his bestsellers – like Naked Ape, Human Zoo, Manwatching, Intimate Behaviour – I found too assured of their generalizations and speculations. This lesser-known, co-authored work on human gesture is fun and interesting, and was probably pioneering in its day (1979)

Obituary: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y797v200o

#DesmondMorris #research #gesture #zoology #books

Hacker News Apr 25

Desmond Morris has died

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y797v200o

#HackerNews #DesmondMorris #Death #News #Tribute #Animals #Psychology

Zoologist and author Desmond Morris dies aged 98

Morris, who was also a surrealist painter and broadcaster, was best known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape.

Hacker News Apr 25

Desmond Morris, 98, Dies; Zoologist Saw Links Between Humans and Apes

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/science/desmond-morris-dead.html

#HackerNews #DesmondMorris #Zoology #HumanAnimalConnection #Apes #ScienceNews #Obituary

Desmond Morris, 98, Dies; Explored Humans’ Animal Instincts in ‘The Naked Ape’

An English zoologist, he wrote an immensely popular 1967 book arguing that ancient genes, shared with apes, shape our lives. Objections in the scientific world ensued.

The New York Times

Rik Smits Apr 22

#3715
De koning van de naakte apen
is eerder deze week ontslapen.
Het was Desmond Morris, zoöloog,
wij, boomers, lazen geboeid zijn betoog,
mak als pasgeschoren schapen.

Op de dood van #DesmondMorris.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/zooloog-desmond-morris-wees-de-wereld-erop-dat-de-mens-gewoon-een-aap-is-en-een-hitsige-bovendien~b5b22320/

Zoöloog Desmond Morris wees de wereld erop dat de mens gewoon een aap is – en een hitsige bovendien

De mens is gewoon een hyperseksuele apensoort zonder vacht, schreef de Britse zoöloog, kunstenaar en schrijver Desmond Morris in de nog preutse jaren zestig. Die boodschap maakte hem wereldberoemd. Deze week overleed hij, op 98-jarige leeftijd.

de Volkskrant

michael Apr 21

that explains the delay in the Grauniad's #obituary for #DesmondMorris: They had to summon Tim Radford back from the dead: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/20/desmond-morris-obituary

Desmond Morris obituary

Zoologist, author and broadcaster who found fame with his groundbreaking 1967 book The Naked Ape

The Guardian

w Apr 20

Desmond Morris has died. I wonder how many people still remember him?

‘The Naked Ape’ was sexist and simplistic, but one thing it taught me, reading it in my early teens, is that there’s nothing shameful about acknowledging that as humans we are animals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51y797v200o

#DesmondMorris #TheNakedApe #primates