Looking for Peruvian animal field guides (1 Viewer)

[SLopezM]

Hello everyone! I will visit Peru this summer and I am starting to look for some field guides. I will spend most of the time in the rainforest areas of Madre de Dios and Cusco departments, but I will try to visit some other habitats too (including the coastline).

Since birds are one of my main targets (and the main subject of this website), I have already asked for Peruvian bird guides in a previous post (Any bird guide for Peru?). This new post is intended to cover the rest of animal groups (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, etc.) and even other non-animal taxa such as plants and fungi.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jim M.]

Aside from Neotropical Rainforest Mammals by Emmons, et al., there's not much to recommend as far as I know. There is the Travelers Wildlife Guide series, but much of that will be duplicative of the bird guide--for other groups they just offer a small sample and you can get similar info from websites. I'd suggest taking photos of everything and then submit to iNat for ID.

 

[SLopezM]

Thank you for your answer! I'll take a look at these books, but the iNaturalist option seems like a good idea.

 

[Jim M.]

You are welcome. Also, for high elevation stuff, there is also this book from Bradt: Peruvian Wildlife: A Visitors Guide to the High Andes. I don't have it but Bradt books are usually pretty good. However, it looks to be out of print in the U.S. anyway, so you might have to hunt for a used copy if you don't want to pay the exorbitant Amazon price.

Peruvian Wildlife: A Visitors Guide to the High Andes (Bradt Guides) by Gerard Cheshire (15-Oct-2007) Paperback: Amazon.com: Books

 

[THE_FERN]

You might consider the Ecuadorean mammals guide (in Spanish). This is quite good and there's reasonable crossover to Peru

 

[Jim M.]

A few other books that aren't field guides to flora or fauna but that you should consider if you are not already aware of them:

– A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics by John Kricher. I have the second edition but there is a completely revised edition out now called "The New Neotropical Companion". I highly recommend this.

– Habitats of the World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists by Campbell et al. (2021). Goes into detail about the flora and fauna that are characteristic of 189 different habitats in the world; good coverage of the Neotropics.

– Birds of Tropical America: A Watcher's Introduction to Behavior, Breeding, & Diversity (2005) by Steven Hilty. Selected topics and research.

 

[Jim M.]

You might consider the Ecuadorean mammals guide (in Spanish). This is quite good and there's reasonable crossover to Peru

Good suggestion. I should qualify my previous remarks by saying that I'm not terribly familiar with what might be available in Spanish.

 

[THE_FERN]

A few other books that aren't field guides to flora or fauna but that you should consider if you are not already aware of them:

– A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics by John Kricher. I have the second edition but there is a completely revised edition out now called "The New Neotropical Companion". I highly recommend this.

– Habitats of the World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists and Ecologists by Campbell et al. (2021). Goes into detail about the flora and fauna that are characteristic of 189 different habitats in the world; good coverage of the Neotropics.

– Birds of Tropical America: A Watcher's Introduction to Behavior, Breeding, & Diversity (2005) by Steven Hilty. Selected topics and research.

The new Neotropical companion spanish ed is or was available free for download

 

[RafaelMatias]

The new Neotropical companion spanish ed is or was available free for download

Here you go: https://www.aba.org/aneotropicalcompanion.pdf
(this may be a translation of the first edition, not the 'new neotropical companion').