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.

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".

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.

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.

Watson began writing his first book, Omnivore, during the early 1960s while under the supervision of Desmond Morris, and wrote more than 21 others.