Watching: Encounters with Humans and Other Animals

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Little Books Limited, 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 654 pages
This wonderful recollection begins with a shy young boy who, while everyone else was dancing on the streets, celebrated the World War II Allied victory by observing a colony of rooks. After studying the behavioral habits of the 10-spined stickleback at Oxford, Desmond Morris became curator of mammals at London Zoo and quickly became a familiar figure in homes all over Britain as presenter of "Zootime," delighting millions of tea-time viewers with a daring attempt to pick up a deadly scorpion by its tail or a tumble off the back of an elephant. As curator of mammals at the zoo, life was as bizarre behind the cameras as in front of them, not least when a whale turned up in the Thames River or when a pair of ferocious bears escaped and caused havoc in a restroom. In 1967, Morris turned his attention to humans. Since then he has continued his work on human and animal species, written many other successful books, and has presented a number of television series. His travels have taken him to some 60 countries, from the cities of North America to the islands off the Mediterranean, Europe, the Pacific, and Africa. This account tells the story of many of these adventures, in fascinating and often hilarious detail.

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Contents

Foreword
11
Napoleons Cannonball
13
The Buttercup Years
19
Copyright

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About the author (2006)

Desmond Morris was born January 24, 1928 in Purton, North Wiltshire, United Kingdom. He is a British zoologist, ethologist, author, and surrealist painter. After Morris' military service, he attended the University of Birmingham and graduated in 1951 with a First Class Honours Degree in Zoology. In 1954, he received a D.Phil from Oxford University. After graduation, Morris was a Curator of Mammals at the London Zoo until 1966. Morris was a presenter of the ITV television program "Zoo Time" in the 1950s, but may be best-known for his 1967 best-selling book, The Naked Ape, which describes the evolution of human behavior from a zoological point-of-view. Morris has authored nearly fifty scientific publications.

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