The Naked Ape The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human
Animal (Hardback: ISBN 0-07-043174-4; Reprint: ISBN
0-385-33430-3) is a 1967 book by zoologist and ethologist
Desmond Morris that looks at humans as a species and compares
them to other animals. The Human Zoo, a follow-up book by Morris
that examined the behaviour of people in cities, was published
in 1969. The Naked Ape, which was serialized in the Daily Mirror
newspaper and has been translated into 23 languages, depicts
human behavior as largely evolved to meet the challenges of
prehistoric life as a hunter-gatherer (see nature versus
nurture). The book was so named because out of 193 species of
monkeys and apes only man is not covered in hair. Desmond
Morris, the author, who formerly was the Curator of mammals at
London Zoo, said his book was intended to popularise and
demystify science. Morris made a number of claims in the book,
including that not only does Homo sapiens have the largest brain
of all primates but also the largest penis, and is