Costa Rica is a wonderland of pure life with lush forest and a symphony of color year-round.  This is the natural habitat to many animals most people only get to see in photographs.  Observing these animals in this way adds to the magical experience of Costa Rica.  Here are just a few of many amazing animals found throughout Costa Rica.

Howler Monkey:

The Howler monkey is among the largest in the country at two to four feet tall with their tails measuring just as long as the body and weighing from eight to twenty two pounds.  They live in groups, or troops, of about eighteen individuals with females outnumbering males.  These monkeys feed on top canopy leaves, fruit, buds, flowers, and nuts.  They seldom leave the trees and, resting eighty percent of the time, are considered the least active of all monkeys in Costa Rica.

The Howler monkey is considered the loudest land animal, thus, named after its distinctive loud bark that can be heard up to three miles away.  The males use this form of vocal communication between troops to mark their territories for food.

These monkeys have a lifespan of about fifteen to twenty years.  The biggest threat to Howlers is being hunted for food and captivity, and loss of habitat.

White-faced Capuchin:

The White-faced capuchin monkeys are highly active which make them very entertaining to watch.   They are considered the smartest of all monkeys in Costa Rica.  They live in polygamous troops of up to twenty individuals with females outnumbering males.  These White-faced monkeys weigh two to five pounds and grow to an average body length of eleven to twenty two inches with their tails measuring fourteen to twenty inches.  Their average life span is about seventeen years.

The White-faced Capuchin is named for its appearance with mostly black fur covering its body and whitish fur around the face, throat, and shoulders.  The tip of the tail is often held coiled, giving it the nickname “ringtail”.

These monkeys communicate by their squeaking and chattering sounds with at least fourteen distinct calls.

They feed on seeds, flowers, buds, berries, nuts, fruit, vegetation, bark, and some have been seen eating crabs and oysters.

Coati:

The Coati, or Coatimundi, is from the raccoon family with a long, ringed tail that is often held erect.  They have long, pointed muzzles and are covered in brownish fur.  They grow thirteen to twenty seven inches including their tails, which can be as long as their bodies.  They weigh seven to fifteen pounds and live to be seven to eight years in the wild.  One unique feature of their anatomy is the ability to reverse their ankles so they may climb down trees headfirst, making them excellent tree climbers.

Coatimundi are insectivorous but also eat fruit, nuts, and small prey such as lizards, rodents, snails, and small birds which they find through their keen sense of smell.

Females live in bands of four to twenty four individuals with usual solitary males joining the group only during mating season.  Pregnant females will separate from the group to build a nest and give birth to litters of three to seven young.  Six weeks after giving birth they will rejoin the band.

Three-Toed Sloth:

The Three-toed Sloth is so well camouflaged with their long gray or brown hair and move so slowly that they are easy to miss.  These interesting creatures grow from one and a half to two and a half feet long and have tiny ears and a small tail.  Their forelegs, which have very sharp long claws, are longer than the rear ones.  In the rainy season their hair becomes covered with a blue-green algae to further camouflage them from predators.

Sloths eat leaves and buds but with their slow rate of metabolism, they need very little food.  They do not drink, but get water from juicy leaves and by licking dewdrops.  These sloths only go down to the ground to change trees for food and to defecate about once a week.  Once on the ground the slot can crawl a distance of about one foot per minute.

Most things in a sloth’s life are done upside down such as eating, mating, giving birth, and sleeping up to eighteen hours a day.  The sloth will usually mate only once a year and have a gestation period of six months.  Baby sloths will cling to their mothers until about five weeks old.  The maximum life span of a sloth is thirty to forty years.

Jaguar:

The Jaguar is the largest carnivore in Costa Rica and can be found in parts of large reserves and national parks.  They are an endangered species due to poaching and loss of habitat.  There are some groups such as the Wildlife Conservation Service who are working on Jaguar conservation.

These large cats are rarely seen in daylight and unprovoked attacks on men are rare.  Jaguars can easily swim rivers and small lakes and favor streambeds in forests.  They feed on peccaries, monkeys, deer, birds, fish, lizards, and turtles.

Jaguars can grow to over six and a half feet long.  Females have a gestation period of about three months and will give birth to a litter of two that will accompany their mother for one year.  Males take no part in the raising of young.

Hummingbird:

Over fifty species of hummingbirds live in Costa Rica.  Most have a shimmering green color on their bodies with splashes of red, yellow, purple, or blue on the head and upper breast area.  Normally males are brighter than females.  Hummingbirds are very small measuring less than four inches in length.

Hummingbirds beat their wings up to eighty times per second, making a “hum” for which they are named.  They also have the ability to rotate the whole wing, which enables the bird to hover in place while feeding on nectar and even fly backward.

The males of some species will gather together in a lek, or communal displaying area, where they attract females for mating.  Baby hummingbirds hatch in about fifteen to twenty two days and live five to ten years or more.

Toucan:

Toucans are brightly marked and have large, colorful bills.  Their bodies are short and thick with rounded tails that vary in length.  Males and females are usually the same color.  They roost socially and up to six adults and young sleep in the same hole high in the trees. Toucans eat fruit and seeds but will occasionally eat insects and other small prey.

The toucan family includes about forty different species but only six live in Costa Rica.  The smaller toucans, known as aracaris, have more brilliantly colored bodies and bills.

Toucans have the most unmistakable vocalization with shrill, rhythmic yelping sounds that are often repeated constantly.  Once this interesting call is heard, it is easy to locate and observe this magnificent bird.

Blue Morpho Butterfly:

The Blue Morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world.  This butterfly has brilliant blue wings measuring five to eight inches across.  Females are not as bright as males and have a brown edge with white spots surrounding the iridescent blue area.  The undersides of the morpho’s wings are brown with bronze-colored “eyespots” which serve as a defense against predators such as birds and insects.

The entire lifespan of a Blue Morpho lasts only one hundred and fifteen days.  This beautiful butterfly is threatened by deforestation and humans who want to capture and display them.

To observe the Blue Morpho and many other butterflies in their natural habitat, visit http://www.butterflyfarm.co.cr/tbf/index.htm.

Leafcutter Ant:

The Leafcutter ant is one of the most interesting ants in Costa Rica.  There are three to eight million ants in a single colony.  These ants have powerful jaws which vibrate a thousand times per second to slice off pieces of leaf to carry back to the nest.  These ants do not eat the leaves they collect, but instead, they will use it as compost to cultivate the fungus they feed on.

As the ants forage for leaves, they lay down powerful scent trails to find their way back to their nest.  These ants are able to carry pieces of leaf that weigh at least twenty times their own body weight.

It is easy to spot these hard-working ants.  Just look for the trail of green leaf fragments moving along.

Fer-de-lance:

The Fer-de-lance, or Terciopelo, is an extremely venomous snake belonging to the viper family.  This snake is rich brown and grey in color and marked with irregular, dark cross bands.  It has a sharp triangular head and can grow up to eight feet long with a twenty-year lifespan.

This is a ground living snake, though able to climb and swim.  The Fer-de-lance hunts mainly at night for small mammals, birds, lizards, and frogs.  They breed throughout the year and have fifty to eighty young in one brood measuring thirty centimeters at birth.

The Terciopelo is the most dangerous and feared snake in Costa Rica, able to inject one hundred five milligrams of venom in one bite.  Fifty milligrams can be a fatal dose for a human.

For an up-close look at the Fer-de-lance and many other snakes, visit http://www.waterfallgardens.com/lapaz-snakes.html.

Green Iguana:

The green iguana is the largest species of lizard measuring between four and six feet in length, including the tail, which can make up half the body length.  They have rough skin with long pointy scales running from the neck to the tail and a large skin sac, or dewlap, hangs from the throat.  Iguanas have long fingers and claws to help them climb and grasp.  These iguanas will mostly feed on soft fruit and greens.  They have good senses of hearing, smell and vision.Green iguanas go into mating season once a year around March or April.  A female will lay about forty eggs and hide them in burrows, then leave.  These eggs take eight to ten weeks to hatch and only three to ten babies will survive to be adults.

The number of iguanas in Costa Rica is declining due to humans hunting them for meat and hide, deforestation, pet trade, and carelessly being run over by cars.  To learn more about green iguana restoration, visit http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/endangered_species/news/index.asp?article=green_iguanas

With so many creatures big and small living in Costa Rica, humans are just visitors of their habitat, and hopefully, these animals will be given the respect they deserve.

Tags: costa rican animals, monkeys, snakes

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Facts on Costa Rica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.