A Functional Field Guide
Be suspicious
when someone tells you that size doesn't matter. On the contrary, when it comes
to field guides, for example, the size of the book is a determining factor
toward how well it will serve the customer. For example there are several
beautiful coffee table books whose subject matter is the wildlife of Costa Rica. But
I wouldn't want to treat that book like a field guide, put it in my backpack
and go into the jungle in search of its subject matter. Likewise, there are
pocket guides that provide concise snapshots of the most common species of
wildlife in Costa Rica,
concise being the operative word. Pocket guides are handy but are limited and
compact in their information as well.
Recently a
field guide has appeared that fills this void in that it is compact, travels
well and is a fountain of pertinent information. Simply titled "The
Wildlife of Costa Rica", this field guide is a collaboration of four
experts in their respective fields. Fiona Reid is a biologist from Cambridge
who has written more than a dozen books on mammals, including "A Field
Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico"; Jim Zook is
an ornithologist who has lived and worked in Costa Rica for twenty-two years,
coming here originally as a volunteer of the Peace Corps to teach environmental
education; Twan Leenders is a biologist from The Netherlands, specializing in
Animal Ecology, especially among amphibians and reptiles; Robert Dean has been
studying and painting neotropical birds for a dozen years, including the
artwork he did for the highly acclaimed "The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field
Guide", which is considered The Bird Bible among the serious bird watchers
here.
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| Twan Leenders at work |
This two
hundred-fifty page book is presented in five main sections: mammals, birds,
reptiles, amphibians and arthropds, each with a nice introduction. It also
offers a very good glossary and an index of scientific and common names of each
species. One very distinguishing attribute that I enjoy about this field guide
is the presentation of twenty-four natural history vignettes interspersed
throughout the book. Each vignette offers text that, accompanied by a
photograph of the subject at hand, portray general points of interest,
describing in greater detail the given species and the natural history and
ecology of their habitats. With forty color photos and more than six hundred
detailed color illustrations, this functional field guide exposes readers to
the animals and other wildlife one is most likely to see in Costa Rica. I
also appreciate the fact that all measurements in this book are being relayed
in both metric as well as inch/foot terms. As a matter of fact, this book
itself measures 14 cm
by 21.5 cm
(or 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 inches), a good daypack size.
I find the
overall presentation of "The Wildlife of Costa Rica" - the layout,
the language and the flow of information to be very user-friendly, especially
for the inquisitive, non-scientist, such as myself. To be sure, there is a
plethora of scientific information in this guide, which has adeptly been made
digestible for the average reader. The guide is published and distributed by
Zona Tropical, a Costa Rican company who, I believe, saw a need, filled it, and
hit a home run in doing so. And a home run is a home run, no matter the size,
and don't let anyone tell you any differently.
"The
Wildlife of Costa Rica" is available at the Jaime Peligro book stores in
Playa Tamarindo, Quepos and Nuevo Arenal, where they will gladly let the customer
browse through their open copy of the book. All comments concerning this article are gladly welcomed.
