Desmond Morris

Desmond Morris
Desmond Morris (1969)
Born	Desmond John Morris (1928-01-24) 24 January 1928 (age 89) Purton, Wiltshire, England
Occupation	Zoologist and ethologist
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Dauntsey's School
Notable works	The Naked Ape (1967)

Desmond John Morris (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape, and for his television programmes such as Zoo Time.

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

In 1946, he joined the British Army for two years of national service, becoming a lecturer in fine arts at the Chiseldon Army College. After being demobilised in 1948, he held his first one-man show of his own paintings at the Swindon Arts Centre, and studied zoology at the University of Birmingham. In 1951 he began a doctorate at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford in animal behaviour. In 1954, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy for his work on the reproductive behaviour of the ten-spined stickleback.

Morris stayed at Oxford, researching the reproductive behaviour of birds. He moved to London in 1956, studying the picture-making abilities of apes. In 1957 he organised an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, showing paintings and drawings composed by chimpanzees. 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 1967 he spent a year as executive director of the London Institute of Contemporary Arts.