Desmond Morris

From ancient Babylon to Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat and the grandiloquent, absent-minded Wol from Winnie-the-Pooh to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, owls have woven themselves into the fabric of human culture from earliest times. Beautiful, silent, pitiless predators of the night, possessing contradictory qualities of good and evil, they are enigmatic creatures that dwell throughout the world yet barely make their presence known. In this classic Reaktion title, now available in paperback, bestselling author and broadcaster Desmond Morris explores the natural and cultural history of one of nature’s most popular creatures. He describes the evolution, the many species and the wide spread of owls around the world, as well as their appearance in folk tales, myths and legends, art, film, literature and popular culture. Originally published in 2009, this new format edition features many telling illustrations from nature and culture and will appeal to the many devotees of this emblematic bird.

The cat has been a favourite subject of artists across cultures from prehistory until the present day. A spectacular 7,000-year-old rock engraving in Libya shows the oldest catfight in feline art; Babylonians believed that the souls of priests were escorted to paradise by a helpful cat; Pablo Picasso was known to have loved cats and often portrayed them as savage predators, while Victorian cats were shown in loving family groups with mothers caring for their playful kittens. Today, the cat is one of the most popular domestic pets on the planet and feline art is hugely popular across the world. In this eye-catching book, bestselling author Desmond Morris tells the compelling story of cats in art, tracing its history from ancient rock paintings and spectacular Egyptian art to the work of Old Masters, modernist representations and cartoons, as well as Naive and Outsider art. Morris weaves illuminating stories with specially selected images that have rarely been seen before. Anyone who has a pet cat, or a fascination for our feline companions, will enjoy this beautifully illustrated book.

This is a groundbreaking workwhich brought together studiesof monkeys and apes from boththe laboratory and the field. Manybroad aspects of primate life,including facial expressions,sexual signals, grooming, play,social organization and parental care, are covered bythe contributors and provided a whole new approach toprimate behavior.

The first book to bring together the many different everyday gestures that are used all over the world. Desmond Morris has travelled to over 60 countries while making field studies of human body language, and made notes of hand gestures and facial expressions. The result is a fascinating reference book of over 600 different gestures from Europe, the Middle East, North & South America and the Far East. The book is arranged alphabetically under the part of the body used with Meaning, Action, Background and Locality and each gesture is illustrated with a line drawing. The World Guide to Gestures complements Desmond Morris's bestsellers Manwatching and Bodywatching.

One of the best chronicles of human intimacy--from the handshake through the twelve stages that people pass through on their way to the total sexual embrace.

First published in 1970, Patterns of Reproductive Behaviour: Collected Papers is a collection of some of Desmond Morris's finest essays on reproductive behaviour. It is evidence of how, and why, Morris has been instrumental in shaping the science of human behaviour.

Stoic, regal and formidable in both size and strength, the bison has long epitomized the American West. From Native American spiritual figure to abused resource to powerful symbol of wildlife preservation, the bison is a microcosm of the West itself, and in this book, renowned zoologist Desmond Morris tells its fascinating story from the first evidence of its fossil record two million years ago to today. Exploring the evolution and habitat of the two remaining species – the European wisent and the American bison – this book shows that, while generally seen as gentle and calm, bison in fact are very unpredictable, liable to attack at any moment. Bison once ranged across the Great Plains of North America in vast herds, and at the beginning of the nineteenth century they numbered in the tens of millions. Humans were responsible for the bison’s near extinction in North America, slaughtering an estimated 50 million and reducing the bison population to less than 1,000 by 1890. However, more recent efforts at bringing them back have succeeded to the point that their domestically raised meat has now become a popular alternative to beef in the U. S. Throughout Bison, natural history is balanced with cultural history: the lore of the bison and the spirit of the West. The result is an absorbing story of one of the most majestic creatures to walk the earth.

Desmond Morris considers the cat in myth and history, and answers questions he received from cat owners after the publication of the internationally best-selling Catwatching.

Desmond Morris combines his skills as a zoologist and manwatcher to take a close look at the most remarkable life-form ever to draw breath on this planet - the human baby. In a revealing portrait of life from the baby's point of view, Desmond Morris answers the questions that parents ask: How important is a mother to her baby? How well can babies hear, smell and taste? Why do babies cry? And what makes a baby smile? Do babies dream? Babywatching is a classic to rank alongside Desmond Morris's world bestsellers, The Naked Ape and Manwatching.

How intelligent are horses? Why do they toss their heads and what makes them paw the ground? After spending more than twenty years studying the body language of the human species, Desmond Morris has turned his attention to the behavior of some of our closest animal companions. First he looked at dogs, then cats, and now horses. As Curator of Mammals at the London Zoo he was able to study closely the zebras and wild horse in his charge. More recently, as a racehorse owner, he has scrutinized the glamorous world of thoroughbred racing. Throughout his long involvement with horses, Desmond Morris has never stopped asking questions. In Horsewatching he sets out to answer them. As a zoologist and a lifelong student of animal behavior, he approaches the horse world in an unusual way, dealing with topics often ignored in equine literature. In addition to examining details of behavior, Dr Morris considers such questions as why horseshoes bring good luck, why we don’t eat horses, why jockeys are allowed to whip their mounts and why we call a bad dream a nightmare. And for punters everywhere, he applies his zoological mind to the all-important question of why some horses run faster than others…

The leopard is the ultimate cat. It makes the lion and the tiger appear overblown and all the other members of the cat family look puny. Whereas lions hunt in the open and then share their kill, the leopard is solitary, stealthy and selfish. This cat ambushes its prey and then carries it high into a tree where it can dine alone. The leopard has commanded respect and awe in mankind for centuries, and is called the ‘perfect predator’, capable of frustrating the most dedicated big game hunter. Leopards are known to attack humans, and the book contains some compelling images of this amazing animal in action. In Leopard, renowned zoologist Desmond Morris shows all sides of the animal’s character: its athletic elegance, its predatory skill, its wary shyness, its cunning intelligence, its parental devotion and its preference for solitary living, even its capacity to seek revenge. Morris traces the evolution of leopards, their role in circuses, and how we are now making strides in their conservation. He also describes their rich symbolism, and looks at the leopard print in fashion, both haute couture and downmarket, as well as the leopard in art, literature, film and popular culture.

The monkey has remarkable intelligence and adaptibility and has enjoyed a close relationship over millennia with human societies. Monkey deities feature prominently in the ancient religions of India, China, Egypt and Central America. Among peoples of tropical Africa, monkey masks and images are still in use in various ceremonies, dances and rituals. Monkeys are present in the human arts of carving, cartoons and painting, as Desmond Morris explores in this book. Yet numerous species continue to be exploited by humans in ways as various as labouring on coconut farms, performing in many parts of Asia for tourists and in the West in circuses, serving as substitute astronauts in space experiments and working as domestic companions for the disabled. New monkey species are still being discovered, for example the blond capuchin (long thought extinct) in Brazil in 2006, and the Burmese snub-nosed monkey in 2010. But the future is not secure: some species are declining at a frightening rate, and logging and related agribusiness industries daily shrink further their natural habitats. And monkeys are bushmeat in some tropical countries. Morris’s Monkey is the up-to-date appraisal of the past, present and possible future of one of the most inquisitive and playful animals on our planet.

‘The owls are not what they seem.’ From ancient Babylon to Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat and the grandiloquent, absent-minded Wol from Winnie the Pooh to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, owls have woven themselves into the fabric of human culture from earliest times. Beautiful, silent, pitiless predators of the night, possessing contradictory qualities of good and evil, they are enigmatic creatures that dwell throughout the world yet barely make their presence known. In his fascinating new book, bestselling author and broadcaster Desmond Morris explores the natural and cultural history of one of nature’s most popular creatures. Morris describes the evolution, the many species, and the wide spread of owls around the world - excluding Antarctica, owls are found on every land mass, and they range in size from 28 centimetres (the Least Pygmy Owl) to more than 70 centimetres tall (the Eurasian Eagle Owl). As a result of their wide distribution, owls also occur in the folk-tales, myths and legends of many native peoples, and Morris explores all these, as well as the many examples of owls in art, film, literature and popular culture. A new title by an acclaimed author, and featuring many telling illustrations from nature and culture, Owl will appeal to the many devotees of this emblematic bird. Despite the fact that many have never seen or even heard an owl, he illustrates through this enticing read that the owl’s presence is still very real to us today.

Internationally bestselling author and world-famous human behaviorist Desmond Morris turns his attention to the female form, taking the reader on a guided tour of the female body from head to toe. Highlighting the evolutionary functions of various physiological traits, Morris's study explores the various forms of enhancement and constraint that human societies have developed in the quest for the perfect female form. This is very much vintage Desmond Morris, delivered in his trademark voice: direct, clear, focused, and communicating what is often complex detail in simple language. In THE NAKED WOMAN, Desmond builds on his unrivalled experience as an observer of the human animal while tackling one of his most fascinating and challenging subjects to date.

En smukt illustreret bog af kvindens former og udtryk. Kvindekroppen er det brillante slutprodukt af millioner af års evolution. Den er fyldt med forbløffende tilpasninger og underfundige detaljer. Det er den mest bemærkelsesværdige organisme på planeten. På forskellige tidspunkter har samfundene forsøgt at ændre og forskønne kvindekroppen på tusinde forskellige måder. I denne nye undersøgelse vender menneskeobservatøren Desmond Morris sine evner og opmærksomhed mod kvindekroppen og tager læseren på en guidet tur fra top til tå. Desmond Morris udforsker de forskellige måder til forbedringer og begrænsninger, som forskellige samfund har udviklet i deres søgen efter kontrol og perfektionering af kvindekroppen. Et af tidens klassiske værker om kvindekroppen, som her er begået af den internationalt anerkendte forfatter Desmond Morris. Udgivet på dansk ved Paludans forlag.

This is a groundbreaking workwhich brought together studiesof monkeys and apes from boththe laboratory and the field. Manybroad aspects of primate life,including facial expressions,sexual signals, grooming, play,social organization and parental care, are covered bythe contributors and provided a whole new approach toprimate behavior.

This is the culmination of a career of watching people - their behaviour and habits, their personalities and their quirks. Morris shows us how people, consciously and unconsciously, signal their attitudes, desires and innermost feelings with their bodies and actions.

This work has become a benchmark of popular anthropology and psychology. Zoologist Desmond Morris considers humans as being simply another animal species in this classic book first published in 1967. Here is the Naked Ape at his most primal in love, at work, at war. Meet man as he really is: relative to the apes, stripped of his veneer as we see him courting, making love, sleeping, socializing, grooming, playing. The Naked Ape takes its place alongside Darwin's Origin of the Species, presenting man not as a fallen angel, but as a risen ape, remarkable in his resilience, energy and imagination, yet an animal nonetheless, in danger of forgetting his origins. With its penetrating insights on mans beginnings, sex life, habits and our astonishing bonds to the animal kingdom, The Naked Ape is a landmark, at once provocative, compelling and timeless.