The Naked Ape
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal is a 1967 book by Desmond Morris which looks at humans as a species and compares them to other animals. It depicts human behavior as largely evolved to meet the challenges of prehistoric life as a hunter-gatherer (see nature versus nurture).
The Human Zoo, a followup book by Desmond Morris which examined the behaviour of people in cities, was published in 1969.
Summary
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 humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) are 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 therefore "the sexiest primate alive". He further claimed that our fleshy ear-lobes, which are unique to humans, are erogenous zones, the stimulation of which can cause orgasm in both males and females. Morris further stated that the more rounded shape of human female breasts means they are mainly a sexual signalling device rather than simply for providing milk for infants. Although the book's subject was the many behavioural consequences of the evolutionary transformation from forest-dwelling, mainly vegetarian creatures to carnivorous hunter-gatherers, reviewers predictably focused on the sexual aspects.
Morris attempted to frame many features of human behavior in the context of evolution at a time when cultural explanations were more orthodox. His explanations failed to convince many academics for that reason, and also partly because critics charged that they were based on a teleological (goal-oriented) understanding of evolution. For example, Morris wrote that the intense human pair bond evolved so that men who were out hunting could trust that their mates back home were not having sex with other men, and suggested the possibility that sparse body hair evolved because the "nakedness" helped intensify pair bonding by increasing tactile pleasure. Like many other writers in the late 1960s and 1970s, Morris warned against the "population explosion" (a term that originated in the 1940s) in terms that seem exaggerated and apocalyptic with the hindsight of almost half a century. Overcrowding, he thought, might cause terminal damage to heretofore relatively stable social structures that humans had evolved in the long course of their development.
Movie adaptations
A 1973 movie directed by Donald Driver — based on the book — was made starring Johnny Crawford and Victoria Principal.
In 2006 an independent movie was made, based loosely on the book, written and directed by Daniel Mellitz, starring Josh Wise, Chelse Swain, Sean Shanks, Amanda MacDonald, Tony LaThanh, Corbin Bernsen.
See also
- Charles Darwin
- Evolutionary psychology
- Sociobiology
- The Territorial Imperative, 1966 book by Robert Ardrey
- The Moral Animal, 1994 book by Robert Wright
