Monkey

Description

Monkey explores our relationship throughout history with this most playful and familiar of creatures. As renowned zoologist Desmond Morris shows, it is not surprising that we are so attracted to them. While we sometimes view monkeys as trivial or comic, their mischievousness is delightful, and their urge to explore and love of activity fascinate us. Morris recounts how baboons were revered in the Egypt of the Pharaohs; monkey deities feature prominently in the ancient religions of China and Japan, and in India sacred status is still given to the langur monkey. He unpicks human attitudes to these clever creatures as he traces their history and draws a picture of their popularity in culture.

Desmond Morris is a world-renowned zoologist and the author of many books on human behaviour. He is also a practising artist and contributed the acclaimed Owl to Reaktion's Animal series. He lives in Oxford.

"A strength of Desmond Morris's Monkey is his unsettling portrayal of how thoroughly our own primate species is willing to exploit its near relatives." -- "Times Literary Supplement"