Marty Crump has searched for salamanders along the Amazon River; she has
surveyed amphibians and reptiles in hostile Huaorani Indian territory;
she has been stung by a conga ant and had run-ins with an electric eel,
a boa constrictor, and a bushmaster viper. In the course of her travels
she has dined, not always eagerly, on wild rat, parrot, guinea pig, and
chicken foot soup. And for those among us who prefer our experiences to
be vicarious and far away from biting insects, venomous snakes, and
inhospitable surroundings, she has written In Search of the Golden
Frog.
The book is a detailed and fascinating chronicle of Crump's adventures
as a field biologist--and as a wife and mother--in South and Central
America. Following Crump on her research trips through Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, we learn of amazingly diverse
landscapes, equally diverse national traditions and customs, and the
natural history of her subject of study, the frog. In leading us through
rain forests and onto windswept coasts, Crump introduces us to such
compelling creatures as female harlequin frogs, who pounce on males and
pound their heads against the ground, and also sounds an alarm about the
precipitous decline in amphibian populations around the globe.
Crump's perspectives as both a scientist and a mother, juggling the
demands of family and professional life, make this highly readable
account of fieldwork simultaneously close to home and wildly exotic. A
combination of nature writing and travel writing, the richly illustrated
In Search of the Golden Frog will whet travelers' appetites, affirm
the experiences of seasoned field biologists, and offer the armchair
naturalist vivid descriptions of amphibians and their habitats.
