Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Basri, commonly known as al-Jahiz, was a Muslim theologian, intellectual, and litterateur known for his Arabic prose works. A polymath who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate, he was the author of works of literature, theology, zoology, philosophy, grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, philology, linguistics, and politico-religious polemics. His extensive zoological work has been credited with describing principles related to natural selection, ethology, and the functions of an ecosystem. 775 – 868; died at about 93. Alive at the same time as Charlemagne, Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Ādi Shankara, Al-Shafi'i, and Abu Nuwas. Wiki link