Desmond Morris

This Desmond Morris’s classic takes its place alongside Darwin’s The Origin of Species, presenting man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape, remarkable in his resilience, energy and imagination, yet an animal nevertheless, in danger of forgetting his origins. Desmond Morris is an English zoologist, ethologist as well as a popular author in sociobiology. He believes that man needs to be studied in exactly the same way as any other animal, and this requires patience and excellent or and proud to call himself as a man-watcher. Travelling across 60 countries, he tried to classify all human gestures, actions, postures and expressions. Desmond studied the human animal in his natural environment, in the streets and parks., offices and markets.

The Ape man, made his way into the Savannah plains in search of a more favorable habitat. He might have ventured a little too much into the waters as pointed out by various remnants of a possible aquatic history. These include the natural swimming capabilities of human babies, the streamlined bodies we possess, and even the alignment of our body hairs. Certain divers of Philippiness can stay beneath the water upto 3 minutes. The author has delved upon various aspects of primate life and how we have been continuing certain evolutionary instincts, knowingly and mostly unknowingly.

The author

He claims that man’s greatest survival trick has been his inquisitiveness. The author has stressed upon a Magnified Reward Principle, where the naked ape, especially babies prefer actions with exaggerated feedbacks. These include playing with noisier and bouncier toys, and finally it was the art of drawing and painting that caught man’s imagination in terms of a more profound visual impact followed by certain actions. Similarly he explored music and dance. Morris also classifies our habits into neophilic (experimental) and neophobic (stability oriented)