| Lyall Watson | |
| Birth Name: | Malcolm Lyall-Watson |
| Birth Date: | 12 April 1939 |
| Birth Place: | Johannesburg, Union of South Africa |
| Death Place: | Gympie, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Scientist, author |
| Nationality: | South African |
| Education: | Rondebosch Boys' High School |
| Alma Mater: | Witwatersrand University University of London |
Lyall Watson (12 April 1939 – 25 June 2008) was a South African botanist, zoologist, biologist, anthropologist, ethologist, and author of many books, among the most popular of which is the best seller Supernature. Lyall Watson tried to make sense of natural and supernatural phenomena in biological terms. He is credited with coining the "hundredth monkey" effect in his 1979 book, Lifetide;[1] [2] later, in The Whole Earth Review, he conceded this was "a metaphor of my own making".[3]
Malcolm Lyall-Watson was born in Johannesburg. He had an early fascination for nature in the surrounding bush, learning from Zulu and !Kung bushmen. Watson attended boarding school at Rondebosch Boys' High School in Cape Town, completing his studies in 1955. He enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1956, at the age of 15 where, by the time he was 19, he had earned degrees in both botany and zoology, before securing an apprenticeship in palaeontology under Raymond Dart, leading on to anthropological studies in Germany and the Netherlands. Later he earned degrees in geology, chemistry, marine biology, ecology, and anthropology. He completed a doctorate in ethology at the University of London, under Desmond Morris. He also worked at the BBC writing and producing nature documentaries.
Around this time he shortened his name to Lyall Watson. He served as director of the Johannesburg Zoo from the age of 23, an expedition leader to various locales, and Seychelles commissioner for the International Whaling Commission.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Watson presented Channel 4's coverage of sumo tournaments.[4]
Watson married Vivienne Mawson in 1961, and they divorced in 1966. His second wife was Jacquey Visick, and his third wife, Alice Coogan, died in 2003.[5] He was the eldest of three brothers, one of whom (Andrew) lived in Gympie, Queensland, Australia. It was while visiting Andrew that he died of a stroke on 25 June 2008.[5] [6] [7] He lived in Cork, Ireland.
Watson began writing his first book, Omnivore, during the early 1960s while under the supervision of Desmond Morris, and wrote more than 21 others.