Pizotito & the Wonders of the Dry Forest is a new children’s book published by the Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Pizotito, a coati from Costa Rica, travels the word to explore tropical dry forests and share what makes them so special.
Garden Scientist Laura Toro, one of the book’s authors, share more about dry forests, Pizotito, and why she and co-authors wanted to explore this topic for children.
Can you share a little bit about your work and background?
I am a Colombian tropical ecologist working in the Conservation and Restoration Division at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I study effective ways to recover degraded tropical forests. My projects involve collaborations with local communities, restoration practitioners, land managers, policymakers, non-profits, research centers, and universities across the world. I love teaching and mentoring, and this book has been a great way to connect with enthusiastic people who want to learn more about tropical dry forests.
How did the idea for Pizotito come about?
In 2020, I was doing my PhD at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. During this year, Minneapolis was going through a lot of changes. We were experiencing both the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest after the death of George Floyd. We were unable to go anywhere due to lockdown. Our lab, the Powers lab, started to meet weekly via Zoom. During these meetings, we shared “our art.” Art was our way to process our emotions. These sessions evolved from sharing to making art together. Pizotito & the Wonders of the Dry Forest was our way of healing and connecting with the forests we studied and the communities we shared them with.
What is a dry forest?
Dry forests are an ecosystem located close to the Equator where trees live without rain for up to eight months. This long dry season makes the conditions in these forests quite harsh, so only certain plants and animals can live there.
Why write a children’s book About Dry Forests?
Dry forests have always been an understudied ecosystem compared to other tropical ecosystems. Most people associate tropical forests with rainforests. We have lost more than 95% of dry forests already. We wanted kids to learn more about these special forests and help us protect and recover them.
How did you decide to make the main character a coati?
Our PhD advisor, Dr. Jennifer Powers inspired us through her children’s book about the differences between diurnal and nocturnal animals in rainforests in Costa Rica. Coatis are quite common in rainforests across Central and South America. We thought that making a coati the main character was a good way to honor our PhD advisor and to show, through the eyes of an animal not usually found in dry forests, why these forests are so magical.
What other animals are in the story and how did you choose them?
We featured a coqui frog, bengal tiger, Asian elephant, rattlesnake, toucan, chimp, jaguar, and ring-tailed lemur. We chose them because we wanted to feature local fauna meaningful to the communities living close to these forests.
What plants did you include?
We highlighted very few plants in the text. However, the drawings depict many plants found only in some specific dry forests.
Have you encountered most of these animals and plants in the field?
I have seen coatis in Costa Rica and Panama, toucans in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama, lemurs during my visit to Madagascar, and rattlesnakes in Colombia and Costa Rica.
What do you hope kids will learn from this book?
We want kids to learn about the immense value of tropical dry forests and to envision themselves as future nature explorers, researchers, or conservationists.
Do you plan to write more children’s books in the future?
There is a plan to write an ABC about important plants and animals of an area we are working in Indonesia. Three other scientists are part of this project.
Anything else you’d like to share?
This project is a collaborative effort that was led by Viviana Londono Lemos, Ariadna Mondragon Botero, Katie LeGare (illustrator) and Sarah Jaramillo (designer)and me. We were lucky to get support from the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and the Market Science initiative of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota, as well as from many friends and wonderful colleagues.
Catherine Martin
Senior Public Information Officer
Leave a Reply
Facts Only
* Pizotito & the Wonders of the Dry Forest is a children's book published by the Missouri Botanical Garden Press.
* Laura Toro is a Colombian tropical ecologist in the Conservation and Restoration Division at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
* The book's development began in 2020 during PhD studies at the University of Minnesota.
* The project was a collaboration between Viviana Londono Lemos, Ariadna Mondragon Botero, Katie LeGare, Sarah Jaramillo, and Laura Toro.
* Support was provided by the University of Minnesota's Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and the Market Science initiative of the College of Biological Sciences.
* Tropical dry forests are ecosystems near the Equator where trees survive without rain for up to eight months.
* Over 95% of tropical dry forests have been lost.
* The book features a coati as the main character.
* Animal characters include a coqui frog, bengal tiger, Asian elephant, rattlesnake, toucan, chimp, jaguar, and ring-tailed lemur.
* A future project is planned for an ABC book regarding plants and animals in Indonesia.
Executive Summary
The publication of Pizotito & the Wonders of the Dry Forest represents a collaborative effort between scientists and artists to increase awareness of an understudied ecosystem. Created during the 2020 pandemic and period of civil unrest in Minneapolis, the project originated as a therapeutic creative exercise among PhD students at the University of Minnesota. The narrative uses a coati, an animal typically found in rainforests, to guide children through the specific characteristics and challenges of tropical dry forests, which face extreme seasonal water scarcity and significant habitat loss.
The initiative seeks to shift the common perception that tropical forests are exclusively rainforests, highlighting that 95% of dry forests have already vanished. By featuring diverse fauna meaningful to local communities, the authors aim to inspire a new generation of conservationists and researchers. This effort is part of a broader pattern of scientific outreach, with additional educational projects planned for biodiversity in Indonesia.
Full Take
This narrative is a classic example of "science communication as bridge-building." The strongest version of this story is an organic transition from academic research to public advocacy, utilizing art as a medium for both personal healing and global environmental education. It successfully humanizes the scientist—positioning the author not just as an expert, but as a student and collaborator who processed societal trauma through creativity.
The underlying paradigm is the "Awareness-to-Action" model, which assumes that children's education is a primary lever for long-term ecological preservation. There is an unstated assumption that increasing visibility for a specific ecosystem (dry forests vs. rainforests) will lead to increased protection and recovery efforts. This echoes a historical pattern in conservation where "charismatic megafauna" or specific narratives are used to secure interest in otherwise overlooked biological niches.
The implications for human agency are positive; it encourages children to see themselves as active participants (explorers, researchers) rather than passive observers of environmental decline. The primary beneficiaries are the ecosystems in question and the academic institutions promoting their research.
Patterns detected: none
Root Cause: The drive to democratize specialized scientific knowledge to prevent the total erasure of an under-represented ecosystem.
Counterstrike Scan: A coordinated influence campaign using this narrative would employ "soft-power" aesthetics to mask a specific political or land-acquisition agenda. The actual content does not match this; it is a transparent academic outreach effort.
Bridge Questions:
1. How does the shift from "rainforest" to "dry forest" narratives change the way funding and policy are allocated for conservation?
2. In what ways does the use of a non-native character (the coati) to explain a dry forest ecosystem assist or hinder the scientific accuracy of the message?