Zacarias ran towards us, eyes alight with anticipation. “There’s a large group of howlers in the fig tree right next to the tower” he gasped. “One joined us on the platform! Come on!” But, having yet again failed to locate the otters on the oxbow lake, I was weary. Dusk was beginning to seep into the forest and I wanted to avoid bathing and dressing in the dark, sweating with the tension that comes of hearing the malicious whine of scores of mosquitoes around me. There really

I slapped at a nagging mosquito. Mozzies? In broad daylight? “This is just ridiculous,” I muttered. “Well,” Frank said, consulting the compass, “I think it’s to the south.” Jose shook his head. “No, no, to the southeast.” In truth, we were mystified. How was it possible a lake we’d visited during a giant otter census only six months earlier had vanished without a trace? Sirena was one of several lakes in the Peruvian rainforest that my husband and I surveyed regularly with ou

First published on San Diego Zoo Global's Wildlife Field Notes blog A horsefly of some sort drones around my head. There’s something cloying about the way it flies; almost, but not quite, brushing my skin. I sit still, hoping it will land on my hair so I can swat it into permanent silence. A toucan loops from one side of the lake to a tall tree on the other, its flight stitching across a fleecy sky. Nearby, red-capped cardinals flit among overhanging branches and a hoatzin, t

I wrote the following a few months ago, after spending an hour or so trawling my Facebook feed which I use to gather environmental news, some of which I then share to help raise awareness of issues I care about: “In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter what we do? Even if we poison, plunder, and populate till we are blue in the face (literally). Unless something apocalyptic happens, on a scale that is beyond our control (I’m thinking of an asteroid hitting this p

I have lived in Cusco for almost five years and run a family nature club, Club NaturaNiños, since early 2012. We set off into the countryside most Saturday mornings and regularly go camping further afield. Yet, till a couple of days ago, I had not taken the trouble to identify a single bird species and was only able to name two or three tree species. I have always tended to love nature as a whole, all its elements taken together, without fully appreciating how each piece fits