Product Description
At the biological crossroads of the Americas, Costa Rica hosts an astonishing array of plants and animals--over half a million species! Ecotourists, birders, and biologists come from around the world to immerse themselves in the country's unspoiled rain forests, mountains, and beaches, drawn by the likelihood of seeing more than three or four hundred species of birds and other animals during even a short stay. To help all of these visitors and local residents identify and enjoy the wildlife of Costa Rica, this field guide presents nearly three hundred species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, and other invertebrates. Carrol Henderson, an experienced wildlife biologist, traveler, and tour leader in Costa Rica, has chosen the species that ecotourists are most likely to see, along with a selection of rarer, sought-after animals. He gives a general introduction to each group of animals, followed by individual species accounts that highlight identification features and interesting ecological adaptations for survival. His stunning close-up photographs and distribution maps complete each entry. In addition, Henderson includes a wealth of data about Costa Rica's natural environment, as well as a trip preparation checklist and lists of conservation organizations, wildlife tourism sites, and wildlife vocalization tapes and CDs. With so much information so readily and readably accessible, this field guide will be essential for planning and enjoying your time in Costa Rica. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Good general guide to a sampling of Costa Rica
Basics: 2002, 539 pp, softcover; 400 color photos of 300 species of birds, mammals, butterflies, amphibians, reptiles, and other invertebrates; natural history overview of each species; map of Costa Rica is sighting locations shown for each animal

This is an attractive, informative, and useful natural history guide for several animal types in Costa Rica.In contrast to the book's title, I would not call this a field guide.Its thickness and weight make it somewhat cumbersome to be carried in the field.Instead, this may be better suited as a tool for at-home reference before or after the outdoor excursion; or, carried in the car or backpack.

The 400 good color photographs cover the following six sections:
Birds = 259 photos of 189 species (of the 880+ found in the country)
Mammals = 46 photos of 31 species (out of 228)
Butterflies/Moths = 30 photos of 24 species (out of nearly 10,000)
Amphibians = 10 photos of 10 species (out of 175)
Reptiles = 34 photos of 25 species (out of 220)
Other insects, spiders, and crabs = 20 photos of 15 species (out of many thousands)

The selection of photos is nice, as is the quality and larger size of each one.Nearly every photo shows sharp color, is well lit with clarity and focus, and shows an unobscured view of the subject.The photos are the highlight of this book, which is what attracted me to buying it.It's nice to see many of Costa Rica's birds shown in a quality photo.

As noted in the breakdown of photographs list above, just over half of the book focuses on the birds, which are perhaps the more prominent or easily seen fauna in Costa Rica (other than the plant life).Within the birds, a slight bias goes towards showing more of the larger birds or non-passerines.Some great photos are provided for the 9 species of parrots, 18 raptors, and 22 shore and wading birds.On the smaller side, 18 species of hummingbirds are shown.

A smaller proportion of mammals is covered, which is analogous to what one typically sees in the wild since most of the mammals are either nocturnal or hidden by the foliage during the day.Four species of monkeys are photographed as are both the Three-toed and the Two-toed Sloths.Also, less likely to be seen, are four species of cats.

The text supplied for each species covers about a page of material dedicated to providing an overview of the natural history and, to a lesser extent, to describing the animal.Feeding behaviors, group interactions, habitat preferences, and other interesting nature trivia provide a brief but nice review of the animal's background.As an example, an interesting tidbit discusses the chemical composition of a forest yam that curtails the reproductive abilities of the peccaries.

A 2x2-inch map of Costa Rica is provided for each species.These maps do not show the range of the animal.Instead, dots represent a distinct sighting by the author and the associated nature tours.I like how the map is drawn with the five major biological zones that represent a distinct eco-region.The maps are relatively large and may be even too large since some species are shown by only a few dots.This takes up a good chunk of the page.

The introductory 36 pages of this book offer a good account of Costa Rica in general.Discussed are its history, nature preservation and conservation, nature tourism, biogeography, bird migration, endemic species, and the many habitat types.Reading this section before visiting Costa Rica will help give nice insight into the country.

I like all the information provided in this book as well as its well-rounded coverage. My only minor critique is the bulkier size of the book which is not due to the many species covered but in part to the organization of the text, photos, and maps.I suspect the book could have been 25% smaller (or the same size with 25% more species) by using a different font size and/or line spacing, a smaller map, and consolidation of the demographic information used to introduce each species.

As noted above, the book is not a complete field guide to any single group of animals, which is pointed out by the author.Instead, the book provides a sampling of what you may see while hiking around various areas of Costa Rica.Although there are certainly more complete field guides available for just the birds or the reptiles or the mammals (see list below), this book offers the nature generalist a very nice representation of the country's wildlife.It's a great book to read before, during, and after your visit.

I've listed several related books below...
The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guideby Garrigues
Mariposas De Costa Rica / Butterflies and Moths of Costa Rica by Chacon/Montero
The Mammals of Costa Rica: A Natural History and Field Guide by Wainwright
The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica by Savage
Amphibians and Reptiles of La Selva, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean Slope by Guyer/Donnelly
A Field Guide to Plants of Costa Rica by Gargiullo et al.
Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora by Zuchowski

Not impressed
I read the reviews and thought this book would not be complete, but I didn't expect it to be this empty. As another reviewer said, it's about the birds of Costa Rica.The information about other wildlife is lacking (and you can get the same basic ID info with the "Costa Rica Wildlife: An Introduction to Familiar Species" pocket guide).Bothrops asper, possibly the most widely known of all Costa Rican snakes, is missing from this book.How can that even be possible?It's possible because apparently Costa Rica only has three or four snake species.

The mammal section is acceptable, but not organized well for a field guide.It would be difficult to use in the field.

The only improvement to my pocketable field guide is a little bit of field info (not a whole lot - my book "The Birds of Costa Rica" is far better at supplying field info and since this volume covers mostly birds, I would recommend picking it up instead) and some real photos of the animals and some different color morphs for the reptiles.The photography in the book is even a bit lacking.The cover photo is a bit blurry and many of the inside shots are not great, but at least they are photos.

Overall, not impressed.

Not-so-good guide
This guide of the Wildlife of Costa Rica is actually a guide not very complete of the birds of the country.
As biologist, I've always worked with many field guides, and this one has dissapointed me in many ways. It lacks illustration of photographies of the animals, it does not include any kind of plants (they are part of the wildlife as far as I know), has not any geographical dispersion pattern map in which consult the distribution area of the species, the dimensions are extremly unconfortable (specially considering the light content of the guide), and it's not exhaustive by all means.
I'd not recommend to buy this guide to any naturalist interested in a field guide for travelling in Costa Rica.

Packed with fascinating natural history info
This excellent book is a fun read, plus it includes fascinating natural history tidbits that make the birds, mammals, butterflies, frogs and other wildlife come alive!The appendix of wildlife tourism sites and field stations (with contact info) was hugely helpful as we prepared for our trip.

Great Travel Book!
We recently returned from Costa Rica and I ordered this book just 2 days before we left.I arrived on time and what a treasure it turned out to be on the trip.Be sure to bring binoculars as well!It was great fun to be able to identify and read more about all of the animals we saw.The only thing I would add is be sure to bring a Plants guide as well.There are so many things to see and so much is different that I was wishing I had that too but the wildlife guide in itself was indispensable for our trip.I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Product Description
Salvadoran refugee women tell their stories of escape from El Salvador during some of the worst years of civil unrest (1979-1981) and their subsequent adaptation to refugee life in Costa Rica. These stories--called testimonios--are interwoven against the backdrop of their children's daycare center. The women's complex relationships with one another and the ambiguous nature of their interactions with the author as ethnographer are examined. The author's voice is used in the text to place the women in their historical and cultural context. ... Read more

Product Description
How can we determine which economic model best provides for economicdevelopment and social welfare? In this major comparative work, noted economist CarmeloMesa-Lago analyzes three Latin American countries with divergent economic systems: Chile (amarket economy), Cuba (socialist), and Costa Rica (mixed). He examines their economic andsocial policies, shows how these policies affect performance based on a set of socioeconomicvariables, and ranks the countries among themselves (using new techniques) and in comparisonwith international indicators. The time frame of the study embraces thirty-eight years for CostaRica (under the democratic social democracy) and Cuba (under the socialist revolution) andtwenty-four years for Chile (under Pinochet and the return to democracy). Mesa-Lago focuses onthe three diverse socioeconomic models that these countries represent during these periods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must for All Latin Americans
Being a Student/admirer of Carmelo Mesa-Lago, I have seen his share ofgreat works on Cuba and Latin America.None however compare to this one. This book has information that only Mesa-Lago, the formost Cuban economistoutside of the island, could present and analyze.He breaks down theeconomies of Cuba, Chile, and Costa Rica and explains the path todevelopment that each country has taken.IF you are a student ofeconomics, international relations, political science... or just intrestedin Latin American issues, this book is a must!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Distinctive among the turbulent nations of Central America, Costa Rica enjoys a much-envied reputation for political stability and prosperity.Since abolishing its army in 1948, the "Switzerland of Central America" has experienced unbroken democratic rule and respect for human rights.Yet this small country has also been drastically affected by the debt crisis of the 1980s and ensuing structural adjustment, with resulting increases in poverty and social inequality.

Its economy traditionally based on coffee and bananas, Costa Rica is now among the world's top eco-tourism destinations.The influx of tourists brings vital income and employment but also threatens to spoil the country's spectacular natural beauty.

Costa Rica in Focus is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to this fascinating country.It explores the history, economy, society, environment and culture, and includes the author's expert tips on what to see and do to get the most out of a short trip to the country. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Short & Dry
This is not a "book," per se, but a 75-page "guide" in which facts are presented as statistics in a sort of beaurocratic mode. It's like reading a report from a financial research institute or a forensic accountant!

A MUCH better overview of the country's geology, politics, economy, immigration, agriculture, ecological convservation, and social history is the coffee-table book, "Costa Rica : The Last Country the Gods Made."

PLUS it's a beautiful book. I mean, just look at the cheesy cover of"Costa Rica in Focus"! A much better buy for the money, and more interesting writing all-round!

Outdated
When one purchases a book that says on the inside flap that "This edition first published in 2002," one might expect the information to be up to date. The truth is, the book was written in 1997, six years ago, and has not be updated at all. This is important because information about every subject covered (history and politics, economy, society, environment and eco-tourism, and culture) has changed in critical ways since that time.

That is not to say, that the book is useless - just not accurate in 2003. What I found annoying is the immediacy of the writing and no indication that you are reading anything but current information. Unless you happen to know that Figueres is no longer president of Costa Rica, you would likely assume the facts and figures presented were correct as of 2002.

There have been two Costa Rica presidents elected since the author took fingers to keyboard. Much has changed in Ticoland, but you would never know it from reading this book.

LONG TIME...no book
I'm extremly angry at this entire process because I ordered this book for a very important reasearch paper I'm doing on Costa Rica and was relying on it for much needed information.The book, however, has not yet arrived atmy house!In the ordering sheet is says usually mails within 2-3 days.Ihope the book comes within the next few days so I can still use it, andthen perhaps I will write a review of the actual book!Please send me thebook!

Great Book!
Hi, I am working at ILISA Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica and I just want to say that this book helps our students a lot by giving them helpful inside information and thus by getting to know all theins and outs about this fantastic country. Thanks! ... Read more

Product Description
Regional development is intrinsically related to the way inwhich the land is used. Given the rising awareness of themultifunctionality of the world's land resources, policy makers nowface the complex task of accommodating multiple objectives of anincreasing number of stakeholders in regional development. Thisimplies a need for tools that can be employed to provide insights intothe opportunities and limitations of land use. Those tools should becapable of quantifying trade-offs between socio-economic,sustainability, and environment-related policy objectives.This book offers a detailed account of a range of interdisciplinarymethodologies for land use analysis, developed over a twelve-yearperiod (1986--1998) in Costa Rica, through collaborativeresearch between three institutions: one from the North (WageningenAgricultural University of The Netherlands), and two from the South(the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center[CATIE] and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock [MAG]). Themethodologies span a number of spatial scales, ranging from the fieldlevel all the way to the national level. Concepts of systems analysisand information technology play a pivotal role in each of themethodologies. Together, they form a unique toolbox that deservesample use in the process of agricultural policy design.With the book, a complimentary CD-ROM is provided which contains apractical account of the methodologies presented, including a fulldocumentation of models, manuals, a number of introductory exercises,as well as previously unavailable data sets. In this way, the CD-ROMoffers an opportunity for familiarization with the methodologies bystudents, research specialists, and decision-makers alike. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by American Geographical Society on October 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1435 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: THE GREEN REPUBLIC: A Conservation History of Costa Rica.(Review) (book review)
Author: Jamie Foster
Publication: The Geographical Review (Refereed)
Date: October 1, 1999
Publisher: American Geographical Society
Volume: 89Issue: 4Page: 607

Article Type: Book Review

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A look at the life of an eleven-year-old girl and her family on their farm in Costa Rica. Includes a section with information on Costa Rica. ... Read more

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This is a case study that profiles the best practices for sustainable development, indigenous human rights, and conflict resolution, providing original insights into Latin American environmental and development politics. "Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project" is a case study that aims to profile best practices for sustainable development, indigenous human rights, and conflict resolution. In 2003, a joint project was developed between the United Nations University of Peace and the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at Arcadia University to study the Boruca hydroelectrical conflict in Costa Rica. The aim was to bring together theory and practice and to reveal the link between peace and conflict resolution and sustainable development. Through partnerships with the Kan Tan Ecological Project and the indigenous communities in the region, and field studies to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and local Civil Society Organizations, faculty and students utilized the mediation framework to identify the needs and interests of the primary conflict stakeholders."Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project" represents the culmination of this fieldwork and tests the mediation framework as suitable model for the resolution of environmental conflicts in Latin America. "Conflict Resolution of the Boruca Hydro-Energy Project" follows these conflicts and the process by which the government-owned utility tried to find common ground between all stakeholders. Ultimately, it tests the mediation framework as an appropriate approach to the resolution of development conflicts, exploring the transferability of this approach to other countries in Latin America. ... Read more

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Shattering Myths on Immigration and Emigration in Costa Rica is a major contribution to scholarship on Central American immigration by the sheer number of topics it covers by an internationally recognized team of scholars from several disciplines. ... Read more

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These information-packed volumes provide comprehensive overviews of each nation's people, geography, history, government, economy, and culture ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Revista Geogrâfica, published by Instituto Panamericano de Geografica e Historia on January 1, 2009. The length of the article is 14007 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Estudio histôrico-geogrâfico de la recreaciôn y el turismo en Costa Rica, 1840-1986.
Author: Gilbert Vargas Ulate
Publication: Revista Geogrâfica (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2009
Publisher: Instituto Panamericano de Geografica e Historia
Issue: 145Page: 89(32)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Revista Geogrâfica, published by Instituto Panamericano de Geografica e Historia on January 1, 2009. The length of the article is 2752 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Una joven estructura volcânica de Costa Rica. Arenal, volcân turîstico, volcân letal.
Author: Jean Pierre Bergoeing
Publication: Revista Geogrâfica (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2009
Publisher: Instituto Panamericano de Geografica e Historia
Issue: 145Page: 61(12)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Costa Rica," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Costa Rica in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Costa Rica when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Costa Rica, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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The tropical humid lowlands in the Caribbean of Costa Rica are characterized by high anthropogenic transformation of a bio-diverse forest into commercial agriculture and cattle grazing.At EARTH university (Agriculture School of the Humid Tropic Region) a large scale adoption of sustainable agriculture has occurred since 1992 without precedent for this region. The changes introduced by a sustainable agriculture policy and natural resources management motivated my interest in study the spatio-temporal landscape transformation occurring since its status as grassland in the late 1960s. This study reconstructs the land use history of EARTH university property, from 1973 to 2001; produces land-cover maps based in the interpretation and classification of aerial photographs and satellite images; and create change-detection analyzes to identify and quantify areas under active process of transformation. The long term planning process of the property benefit from individual updated maps integrated to the land use map for the whole property as well as, from my assessment of performing agricultural decisions and practices in harmony with the natural ecosystem. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! There are currently 26 National Parks of Costa Rica, which are managed under the umbrella of SINAC (Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion), a department of Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE). Costa Rica's progressive policies on environmental protection and sustainable ecotourism in the National Parks System have been lauded as a model for other countries. The rainforests, tropical forests, marine areas and wetlands of Costa Rica are the subject of many university and scientific organization studies. The enrichment of the world's knowledge of these important habitats is an invaluable contribution from the National Parks System of Costa Rica. The Cordillera de Talamanca is home to an impressive collection of national parks and other preserved areas, including the La Amistad International Park, which extends into Panamá. On the southern Osa Peninsula is the internationally renowned Corcovado National Park, which preserves a remnant of sizeable lowland tropical rainforest that is unique in the world. ... Read more