Desmond Morris, zoologist and author of the 1967 bestseller The Naked Ape, died aged 98; he was also a surrealist painter and broadcaster.
Key Takeaways
The Naked Ape (1967) applied ethology to human behavior and became one of the bestselling popular science books of the 20th century.
Morris worked across zoology, popular science writing, surrealist painting, and broadcast media throughout his career.
His anthropological conclusions were often provocative and contested, but credited with expanding public engagement with evolutionary thinking.
Career spanned academic zoology through mainstream cultural commentary, an unusual range for a scientist of his era.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters consistently surface works beyond The Naked Ape: Catwatching is cited as a rigorous observational study, and the 1979 autobiography Animal Days praised as an accessible career account.
Morris consulted on the 1981 film Quest for Fire, designing movement patterns and gestural vocabulary for the actors, a detail absent from most obituaries.
His theories are remembered as genuinely thought-shifting even where wrong, and specific ideas like the origin of the heart symbol are cited as lasting curiosities.
Notable Comments
@dkarl: consultant on Quest for Fire, developed actor movement patterns and gestures not mentioned in the obituary.
@golemotron: credits Morris specifically for a theory on the origin of the heart symbol.
