快猫短视频

The Tapir鈥檚 Morning Bath by Elizabeth Royte, Houghton Mifflin, $25,
ISBN 0395979978

STAGGERED at finding so much teeming life in rainforests, Darwin asked his
famous question 鈥淲hat explains the riot?鈥� Barro Colorado Island in Panama is
entirely covered by rainforest and has been closely studied for nearly eighty
years in an effort to answer Darwin鈥檚 question. But the answer seems as elusive
as ever. Elizabeth Royte has misgivings about research on the island.
Rainforests are disappearing: is it possible to defend endless work on them? The
researchers themselves come in for as much scrutiny as their efforts. They don鈥檛
seem a particularly interesting lot. Perhaps they lack colour because of the
writing, which is better about the island鈥檚 natural life than about the
researchers on it. Royte isn鈥檛 strong on character and people seldom speak
colloquially. When they do, they usually follow up with what might be a textbook
passage.

Sometimes their speech is impenetrable. 鈥淚n short, it鈥檚 the trade-offs
gradient between tolerances for these pressures that predicts the relative
diversity of different habitats.鈥� Royte doesn鈥檛 bother to explain scientific
terms along the way either, which is a pity.

Nevertheless, Darwin鈥檚 riotous life is all here and illuminatingly described,
from butterflies as large as saucers to spider monkeys, from lianas to spiny
rats. This is a cornucopia of facts and mysteries and there are rewards for
persistent readers. You might, for instance, learn how to make a moth take a
dive by jangling a bunch of keys.