鈥淢UMMY, are all the animals here because there鈥檚 no rainforest anymore?鈥�, I
heard a seven-year-old ask the last time I visited London Zoo. Environmental
awareness has obviously struck deep into the heart of her generation.
I remember, at the same age, being proud to know what a rainforest was. I
considered it to resemble a deep, dark, distant toy box full of marvellous
things. And a zoo was a glimpse of such wonders in just the same way that
Tutankhamen鈥檚 treasures were a glimpse of the surviving splendours of ancient
Egypt. Mine was not the view of the girl at the zoo, who saw rainforests as
almost mythical places, ravaged former-Edens, no longer inhabitable by their
former denizens.
For such a loss of innocence and wonder, I would prescribe regular doses of
John Kritcher鈥檚 well-illustrated and beautifully written A Neotropical
Companion(Princeton University Press, 拢19.95/$29.95, ISBN
0691044333). It contains a wealth of information, explanations and curious facts
about the region鈥檚 natural history, and is the kind of overview that Alfred
Russel Wallace, Henry Bates and other early scientific explorers of Amazonia
would have given fingers from their collecting hand to have possessed. It does a
splendid job of reminding even the most jaded ecologist what it is we鈥檙e trying
to save. If it鈥檚 explained well by an adult, it will have children agog and
aghast.
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On a slightly narrower focus, Louise Emmons鈥檚 Neotropical Rainforest
Mammals (University of Chicago Press, 拢63.95/$80, ISBN
0226207218) is a revised and expanded version of her magnificent field guide.
The original 1987 edition, with its hints on useful field facts such as the
characteristic way a species鈥� eyes shine at night in the light of a handheld
torch, rapidly became indispensable for fieldworkers and eco-tourists alike.
With new maps, updates and 24 new accounts, this edition maintains Emmons鈥檚 high
standards. A must for anyone studying South and Central American mammals or for
anyone curious about their natural history.
For those with an interest in the monkeys of the region, New World
Primates (Walter de Gruter, 拢62.95, ISBN 0202011852) is definitely
the thing. Edited by the late and much missed Warren Kinzey, it brings together
leading experts on a diverse and fascinating array of topics from studies of
colour vision to analyses of their mating systems and the fossil record.
Kinzey鈥檚 contribution, a 136-page genus-by-genus summary of the state of
knowledge on all neotropical primates is sure to be a standard reference for
years to come.
De Gruter鈥檚 book contains a chapter on 鈥淭he human niche in Amazonia鈥�, which
is too numerical and analytical to evoke empathy. That鈥檚 not a failing of A
Place in the Rain Forest by Darryl Cole-Christiansen (University of Texas
Press, 拢14.95, ISBN 0292711913). Drawing you into the experiences of the
first settlers of Costa Rica鈥檚 Coto Brus region, Cole-Christensen provides a
first-hand documentary account of 30 years of strength-sapping and
initiative-testing struggle. This is a unique testimony to a way of life too
often vilified and misunderstood.
A broader view of the impact of habitat destruction can be found in
Tropical Forest Remnants (University of Chicago Press, 拢30.50, ISBN
0226468992). Edited by William Laurance and Richard Bierregaard, it covers every
imaginable aspect of rainforest conservation. A superb compendium of problems,
processes and potential solutions, it deserves widespread attention.