How to Make Rapadura, a Sugarcane Sweet

The sweet smell of boiling sugar permeated the air when Lygia and I arrived at the towering bamboo that marked our first stop, a chacara or small farm.This was where I would conduct my first wildlife-disease interview. I was nervous. What if my Portuguese was unintelligible?...

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Tamandua! and Other Mammals

My sister and I grew up playing Green Bin Games, named after the plastic container where all the toy animals were kept. One of my favorites was the "tamandua," a shaggy-tailed, tube-nosed, slouchy sort of critter. The more precise name for this toy was giant anteater, or ant-bear....

Vale do Bugio: Tourism as a Tool to Protect Private Ecosystems

Our weekend visit to Vale do Bugio, Valley of the Howler Monkeys, didn't yield any non-human primates. But it did get me thinking about ecotourism, the difference between private and public ecosystems, and bloated dead bats.It all started when Duca, Lygia and I loaded into...

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Cerrado: é para os Pássaros, it's for the Birds

Welcome to a most marvelous collection of living dinosaurs, the avifauna of the Cerrado, os pássaros, the birds!I've named each species in English and Portuguese. All were identified by me, my camera, and my trusty book, A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil by Ber van Perlo...

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