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(1928- ) UK painter, zoologist and author who remains best known for popularizations of sociobiology, arguing in The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal (1967) that human behaviour could be usefully studied (though not comprehensively defined) through ethological comparisons with our primate relatives. He is of some sf interest for his only novel, Inrock (1983; exp 2013), whose young protagonist enters a surreal Underground world, accessible through rock outcrops undergoing strange metamorphoses, in an attempt to pin down the truth about things. Inside, he finds strange creatures.
Morris is credited with devising "authentic" prehistoric human body language and sexual positions for the film Quest for Fire (1981). [JC]
see also: Metaphysics; Philip Oakes.
born Purton, Wiltshire: 24 January 1928
works (highly selected)
nonfiction
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Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 23:33 pm on 16 January 2026.
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