Exploring Costa Rica’s Wildlife
Exploring Costa Rica’s Wildlife
In early October, my class ventured out to the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica to learn about the Province of Limon and its distinct culture, lush national parks, and fascinating people. Best of all, we were able to come across dozens of animals that I could only dream of seeing. Costa Rica has only about 0.1% of the world’s land mass, but it also has about 4% of the world’s biodiversity. Of course, I was hell bent on capturing as many photos of this biodiversity, so enjoy!
Cahuita National Park
Located along the southern Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica is Cahuita National Park, the one National Park in the country that does not charge an entry fee. After years of strife with the government, the local community was able to strike against rules and regulation and convince the government to let the park operate on donations. This is fortunate for the hundreds of thousands of visitors the park sees each year, because it’s stunning. My class took a 30 minute hike through the park with our guide, Carlos, and in that time, saw so many captivating plants and animals.
Snakes
It’s a good thing that most of these little suckers are bright yellow. The vipers’ bright coloring made them easy to spot, and in turn, easy to stay far from. This last image earned me a “wow, I hate you. I’m so jealous” from my Environmental Studies professor, who works professionally as a conservation photographer. Score.
Creepy Crawlies
The forest is rife with critters with many legs. The grasshopper-type bugs we came across were the size of my hand, the spiders had intricate and oddly beautiful webs, and the brightly colored crabs darted in and out of their hidey holes.
Monkeys
Capuchin, or white face, monkeys could be seen darting and dashing through the trees above our heads. We also managed to catch a glimpse of some howler monkeys, but those were much easier to hear than see. Fun Fact: In Jurassic Park, they used audio of howler monkeys for the dinosaur roars. Yep, we were out on the beach and heard what sounded like Godzilla coming from the jungle.
Raccoons
Yep, Costa Rica has trash pandas, too!
While on our hike we saw a mama raccoon and her three babies. The little ones were adorable!
The mommy raccoon, not so much…
As my center director and health & safety coordinator are yelling at us not to go near the raccoon, my Environmental Studies professor his reaching is hand out to it. The health & safety coordinator, Maria, was able to get this gem of a photo of the raccoon going for his hand. All of the students had the photo within the hour. No lie, this photo is my lock screen image now. It makes me laugh every time I open my phone.
The Jaguar Rescue Center
In the beach-side city of Puerto Viejo, you’ll find the Jaguar Rescue Center, which currently has zero jaguars. This is a good thing, though, because it means that no jaguars need rehabilitation. And while there are no jaguars, there are plenty of other animals to see on a tour of the center.
Like this pelican, that apparently tormented my program director, Sarah, last year. She gave it a wide berth this time.
This little green bird used to be a mistreated pet, but now she roams around the center and attacks people’s shoelaces, as shown above with my Nikes.
Besides birds, the center has capuchin, spider, and howler monkeys, as well as crocodiles, snakes, anteaters, a rampant pig, raccoons, and wild cats such as margays and ocelots. All of the animals there are in need of some kind of rehabilitation. Some are orphaned babies, like this sweet little monkey.
Other animals are treated for serious injuries from machetes, cars, etc. The rescue center works to nurse the animals back to health so they can then be released back into the wild. Animals that can’t be rehabbed fully have permanent homes at the center.
If you ever find yourself in Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo is a city that needs to be at the top of your list, and while you’re there, you can check out the Jaguar Rescue Center! Information for tours of the center and the forest where they release their animals can be found here: http://www.jaguarrescue.foundation/tours/
The Kekoldi Iguana Farm
Located in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica are the BriBri, and tribe of indigenous people. We were able to visit with one of the BriBri communities outside of Puerto Viejo and learn about their lifestyles, land struggles, rituals, and current projects. The BriBri are wicked cool for one primary reason: their society is matriarchal and the women are in charge. Whooo! Anyways, the Kekoldi group of BriBri’s current project is an iguana farm, where they raise iguanas and release them into the wild.
The Kekoldi iguana project began in 1986/1987 and sought to increase the iguana population in Costa Rica, which had dwindled to less than 5,000. Since then, the Kekoldi have released over 45,000 iguanas into the wild. At the farm, we were able to see how they cultivate the eggs and keep baby iguanas in cages for 2 years to protect them from predators.
We were then able to feed the adult iguanas flowers and attempt to coerce them into crawling onto us. We were given the instructions “be the tree.”
Here I am, trying to “be the tree” for a hot second before my iguana got impatient with me for not giving it the flower fast enough. Thus began the squirming and clawing of a pissed off iguana. Oh well, at least my classmates are better at being trees.
And now, what you’ve all been waiting for…
SLOTHS!!!
We spotted our first sloth on the drive to Limon, and of course we had to pull over for pictures and screaming. I was able to capture my classmates reaction to the sloth in the image below.
The link above shows a short video clip of this little sloth that Maria was able to get a photo of. He was hanging out in Puerto Limon’s Vargas Park. Ironically enough, our tour guide told us there were no sloths left in the park. Huh, I guess he was wrong.
And, here’s a snapshot of my classmates craning their necks to watch our new friend clamber about. We learned this week in Limon that it is not too difficult to spot sloths. Just keep an eye out for furry bundles up in the trees.
The map on the left shows where you can see three-toed sloths and the one on the right depicts where you can spot two-toed sloths. Both images come from a helpful blog post from My Tan Feet about spotting sloths in Costa Rica. The post can be found here: https://mytanfeet.com/costa-rica-wildlife-and-nature/where-to-see-sloths-in-costa-rica-wildlife-nature/
And even better…
Baby sloths!!
The Rescue Center had four little baby sloths that climbed around baskets and blankets. We cooed over them for a good while before we had to be torn away. If you weren’t convinced that you need to visit the Jaguar Rescue Center before, are you convinced now?
Overall, Costa Rica’s wildlife is astounding. Whether you see these animals in one of Costa Rica’s many national parks or in a rescue center, you are sure to be amazed!