Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes

Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes reveals the thrills and travails that herpetologists experience when working with amphibians and reptiles in the wild. With essays from fifty field biologists, this volume, edited by Martha L. Crump, presents a multifaceted yet intimate look at life in pursuit of knowledge about the natural world.

From the beaches of Peru to the mountains of China, the stories in this collection place readers in the boots of field biologists as they watch, count, experiment, and survey. Some recall mishaps and misadventures—contending with leeches, dangling off a precipice while in a truck. Others tell of once-in-a-lifetime encounters—discovering a new frog species, spotting a rare snake. Together, these stories offer an understanding of what field biology is, what field biologists do, and how they go about doing it.

Written with candor, warmth, and a dash of humor, the stories in Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes will encourage readers to appreciate the value of engaging with nature and of the amphibians and reptiles so critical to the vitality of our planet.

Martha L. Crump is Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Biology at Utah State University and Northern Arizona University. She is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen books, most recently Women in Field Biology.

Finally, although I share with Crump the hope that these essays might inspire scientists to engage in fieldwork and bet-ter appreciate the animals we hold dear, I also have to say that they are exceedingly entertaining. Those of us who live for fieldwork and, in many cases, became herpetologists as a result of experiences such as those that animate the stories in this volume, recognize in almost every essay at least one inci-dent that parallels a comparable event in our own maturation as field biologists who are 'living our dreams.'

Marion Preest, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges:

Written by some hard-core field herpetologists, Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes will have you questioning why you aren't a field biologist yourself—or maybe just appreciating the comfort and safety of not being one!

Harry Greene, author of Tracks and Shadows:

Entertaining, thought-provoking, and at times mystical in deeply satisfying ways. Anyone who loves nature—whether an amateur biologist or a veteran of the field—will savor this book.