The Tapir Scientist: Saving South America's Largest Mammal

Overview

If you’ve never seen a lowland tapir, you’re not alone. Most of the people who live near tapir habitat in Brazil’s vast Pantanal (“the Everglades on steroids”) haven’t seen the elusive snorkel-snouted mammal, either. In this arresting nonfiction picture book, Sibert winners Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop join a tapir-finding expedition led by the Brazilian field scientist Pati Medici. Aspiring scientists will love the immediate, often humorous “you are there” descriptions of fieldwork, and gadget lovers will revel ...
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Overview

If you’ve never seen a lowland tapir, you’re not alone. Most of the people who live near tapir habitat in Brazil’s vast Pantanal (“the Everglades on steroids”) haven’t seen the elusive snorkel-snouted mammal, either. In this arresting nonfiction picture book, Sibert winners Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop join a tapir-finding expedition led by the Brazilian field scientist Pati Medici. Aspiring scientists will love the immediate, often humorous “you are there” descriptions of fieldwork, and gadget lovers will revel in the high-tech science at play, from microchips to the camera traps that capture the “soap opera” of tapir life.
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
According to Montgomery, the tapir “looks like a cross between a hippo, an elephant, and something prehistoric,” and indeed the animal has survived for more than 12 million years. In this addition to the Scientists in the Field series, Montgomery and Bishop bring readers into Brazil’s Pantanal, an expanse of grasslands and subtropical forests, where a team of scientists tracks tapirs in an effort to understand them more completely. Profiles of scientists and ranchers, discussions of other animals of the Pantanal, Bishop’s typically electric nature photography, and a few tense moments in the wild combine to create a full, fascinating picture of tapirs and one place they call home, as well as the work being done to protect them. Ages 10–up. (July)
From the Publisher

"Profiles of scientists and ranchers, discussions of other animals of the Pantanal, Bishop's typically electric photography, and a few tense moments in the wild combine to create a full, fascinating picture of tapirs and one place they call home, as well as the work being done to protect them."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Chapters about the team's day-by-day experiences, written in a lively, first-person voice, include memorable detail. . . A splendid addition to an exemplary series."
—Kirkus, starred review

Kirkus Reviews
The writer-and-photographer team who introduced readers to flightless parrots, snow leopards, tree kangaroos and the Goliath bird-eating tarantula turn their attention to the elusive lowland tapir. Traveling in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands with biologist Patricia "Pati" Medici and her team, Montgomery and Bishop experience long, hot days, cramped conditions, nervous waiting and itchy tick bites while searching for this solitary, nocturnal animal. There is a satisfying natural structure to this tale of science research in the field, as initial difficulties give way to the team's most productive expedition ever. In less than a week, they see tapirs in the wild, find their tracks, take photographs, locate them through radio telemetry, collect "samples of tapir poop, skin, fur, and blood," and capture and collar two new tapirs, with more to come. This research matters, and the author clearly explains why. Chapters about the team's day-by-day experiences, written in a lively, first-person voice, include memorable detail; interspersed are sections introducing team members, the ranch where they (and a team investigating giant armadillos) are doing their research, a British teen who helped fund an expedition and record-keeping. Clearly labeled photographs of scientists at work, ranch life, tapirs and other animals of this unfamiliar part of the world add to the book's appeal. A splendid addition to an exemplary series. (bibliography, websites, index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780547815480
  • Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Publication date: 7/23/2013
  • Series: Scientists in the Field Series
  • Pages: 80
  • Sales rank: 954,608
  • Age range: 10 - 14 Years

Meet the Author

Sy Montgomery

Sy Montgomery is an author, naturalist, newspaper columnist, scriptwriter, and radio commentator who writes award-winning books for children as well as adults. She lives in Hancock, New Hampshire. Visit her website at symontgomery.com.
Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop won the Sibert Medal in 2011 for their collaborative work on Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot, another Scientist in the Field title.

Good To Know

In our exclusive interview with Montgomery, she revealed a few fun anecdotes:

"My companion pig, Christopher Hogwood, age 12, lost 60 pounds on his new diet and now weighs in at a trim 690 pounds."

"My first known act of Eco-Conscience: I was sent home from kindergarten for biting a little boy who had pulled the legs off a daddy longlegs. I would do it again today."

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    1. Hometown:
      Hancock, New Hampshire
    1. Date of Birth:
      February 7, 1958
    2. Place of Birth:
      Frankfurt, Germany
    1. Education:
      Syracuse University: B.A., Newhouse School of Public Communications, 1979; B.A., College of Arts and Sciences, 1979
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