Desmond Morris was born in 1928. Educated at Birmingham and Oxford universities, he became the curator of mammals at London Zoo in 1959, a post he held for eight years. In 1967 he published The Naked Ape which was to sell over 10 million copies worldwide. An accomplished artist, television presenter and film maker, Desmond Morris's works have been published in over thirty-six countries.

"The naked ape will be a wiser and better hominid by the time he has thumbed his way through to the end" Observer "An extremely important book...eminently readable and richly illustrated" -- Niko Tinbergen, Nobel Prize Winner for Physiology "This is the kind of book you pick up idly and put down very reluctantly" Daily Mirror "A clear and careful introduction to an involved subject" The Times