Once again, I interrupt my continuing series of meditations on the evolution of the female orgasm to bring you news of a different sort. And the news is good.

Here in Costa Rica, I have felt the predictable allure of seeing some of this country’s extraordinary wildlife, notably two of its best-known, yet highly elusive mammals: jaguars and tapirs. These deep-forest denizens are known to the biodiversity, conservation community as examples of “charismatic mega-fauna,” those large, exciting critters that most people think of when they think of wildlife.

Cases in point: giant pandas, symbol of the World Wildlife Fund, or any of the great whales, not to mention the mammalian trinity memorialized in the movie version of The Wizard of Oz (“Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!”). By the same token, ecotourists to the Serengeti make much of seeing the “big five”: lions,…

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