Costa Rica's Natural Wealth
With jaguars, resplendent quetzal birds and green tree top frogs as its kings and queens, exuberant rainforests as its baroque palaces and crystalline raging rivers and majestic volcanoes as its power, Costa Rica (the "rich coast") has defined a new meaning for wealthy!
In Costa Rica, visitors will have the privilege to enjoy an assortment of sceneries and ecosystems within a very short drive: dense rainforests were electric blue Morphos and Resplendent Quetzals fly over green baby leaves and fresh flower dew, tropical dry forests were century old trees lit the vistas with pink, yellow and orange splashes, mystic volcanoes with smoky craters were rare sub-alpine dwarf vegetation breathe, golden coasts were surfers will slide through luscious warm sparkling waves and deep blue waters were scuba divers will discover an enchanted world of colorful corals, green sea turtles, blue whales and crowds of mantas.
Costa Rica's Diversity
Costa Rica, a small country covering only 19,560 square miles, 0.03 percent of the Earth´s surface, contains an astonishing amount of plants and animal life, approximately 6 percent of the world’s biodiversity. In spite of its small size, Costa Rica features greater biodiversity than Europe or North America. This abundance of wildlife is partly due the country’s geographical position on a land bridge between North America and South America and its environmental protection policies.
Costa Rica’s enormous diversity attracts hundreds of scientists from all over the world. The country’s rainforests are complex biological communities were a usual hectare might home nearly 100 species of trees. They are habitat for more than 9000 recorded species of plants including 1500 species of orchids. Over 850 species of birds fly over Costa Rica’s rainforests, far more than have been seen in North America, Europe or Australia: 50 species of hummingbirds, 15 parrots (including the exotic scarlet macaw), six toucan species, 45 tanagers, 29 antbirds and resplendent quetzals, with its shimmering green plumage, among others. More than 200 mammal species have been recorded in Costa Rica: monkeys like howler, spider, white-faced capuchin and squirrel monkey, sloths, anteaters, armadillos, agoutis, coatis, peccaries (wild pigs), kinkajous, raccoons, squirrels and bats as well as endangered species like jaguars and tapirs. Flitting around Costa Rica are more than 2,000 species of butterflies ( at 10% of the world's butterfly species). One of the most breathtaking is the huge morpho, an electric blue butterfly that you will occasionally watch during sunny days floating over the rivers. Costa Rica is habitat to approximately 150 species of amphibians, some of which are extremely colorful and exotic like red eye leaf frog, the spotted-thighed poison frog and the strawberry poison-arrow frogs. Over 200 species of reptiles live in Costa Rica, snakes, lizards, crocodiles and 14 turtle species including the Huge Leatherbacks, Olive Ridleys, Loggerhead and the Hawksbill.
Fauna in Costa Rica
Costa Rica possesses a rich and abundant fauna. The sheer number and variety of its species have made Costa Rica one of the most admired territories on the planet when it comes to biodiversity.
More than 200 species of mammals, around 850 species of birds, almost 200 types of amphibians and 220 species of reptiles inhabit these lands.
Many tourist activities are sustained in harmony with wild animals. The mountains give shelter to the observation of birds, whose admirers lift their gazes toward the treetops in an attempt to spot their nests. The best places for bird watching are Braulio Carrillo National Park and its surroundings, Monteverde, Talamanca, and the Osa Peninsula.
Every year on the Atlantic and Pacific Coast, one can observe the arrival of the turtles to lay their eggs in the soft sand of the beaches. Guided tours are organized to show you this marvelous demonstration of life itself, without adversely affecting the turtles.
Almost any place in the country is a good place to see hummingbirds, doves, sloths, butterflies and, in some places, a snake or giant lizard may surprise you.
Local guides can show you the areas where this species are most commonly seen, whether you wish to observe them or avoid them!
With more than 850 species of birds, all found within a tight geographic area, Costa Rica offers birders of all levels of expertise and unrivaled birdwatching experience during their stay in the country. From the oak forest of the Talamanca Mountains, Central America's highest mountain range, to the cloudforests of Monteverde or Braulio Carrillo National Park, to the lowland rainforest of the Osa Peninsula, birders will discover a rich variety of habitats filled with wonderfully diverse groups of birds.
The best advice for birding in Costa Rica is to visit several different habitats, hire a local guide who specializes in birdwatching and come prepared with the "Birds of Costa Rica". This excellent guide, written by Gary Stiles of the University of Costa Rica and Alexander Skutch, is readily available from Cornell University Press. Birders will find well - drawn illustrations as well as helpful information about habits, calls and plumage in this classic book, which also lists key areas for productive birdwatching and provides useful hints about clothing, insect repellents, etc.
Some of the birds described could have sprung straight from the imagination of Dr. Seuss. Take the Umbrella Bird, for example, with its topknot of fine feathers that make the bird look like it's wearing an umbrella on its head (which would be just the thing in the wet cloudforest where it lives). Or the Three - Wattled Bellbird, which doesn't say "Ding, dong", or sound like a bell at all. It goes "BONK!"
Other birds could have materialized from the pages of childhood books of fantasy. The unbelievably beautiful Resplendent Quetzal, with its iridescent plumage that gleams emerald green or shines like polished metal, is a bird that figures prominently in pre - Columbian mythology throughout Central America and whose feathers were prized like gold or jade. The quetzal can be easily seen in Costa Rica, at Cerro de la Muerte or Monteverde, an awe - inspiring sight that will stay with birdwatchers forever. The Scarlet Macaw, another beautiful bird whose populations are dwindling throughout Central America, can still be seen in Costa Rica, especially at the Carara Biological Reserve.
Birders out on the trail in Costa Rica's forests should keep an eye out for mixed flocks foraging on certain types of food, especially fruit, in the forest canopy.
They should also watch for ant swarms, a tropical phenomena in which migrating groups of vicious army ants stir up other insects and even small animals as they move along the forest floor. Ant swarms are accompanied by a number of bird species, which feast not on the army ants but on the insects they stir up. Species most frequently seen with an ant swarm are antbirds (naturally), tanagers, manakins and wrens.
Thanks to the excellent diversity of birds living in a variety of habitats that are easily accessible, to the availability of knowledgeable, local guides, and to safe, convenient trails, Costa Rica has become one of the worlds' most popular birdwatching destinations. Few, if any, birdwatchers leave the country without having exceeded their highest expectations in a tropical country.
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Flora of Costa Rica
Costa Rica has an extraordinary abundance of flora, including some 9,000-plus species of "higher plants." There are many more species of ferns in Costa Rica - about 800 - than in the whole of North America, including Mexico. Of heliconias, members of the banana family more familiarly known as "birds of paradise," there are some 30 species. It is a nation of green upon green upon green.
The forests and grasslands flare with color, some flamboyantly so, for plants like to advertise the delights and rewards they have to offer, including the ultimate bribe - nectar. Begonias, anthuriums, and blood of Christ, named for the red splotches on the underside of its leaves, are common. My favorite plant is the "hot lips" (labios ardientes), sometimes called "hooker's lips" (labios de puta), whose bright red bracts remind one of Mick Jagger's famous pout or - more appropriately - Madonna's smile. The vermilion poró tree (the bright flame-of-the-forest), pink-and-white meadow oak, purple jacaranda, and the almost fluorescent yellow corteza amarilla are trees that all add their seasonal bouquets to the landscape. And morning glory spread their thick lavender carpets across lowland pastures, joined by carnal red passion flowers, unromantically foul-smelling - a crafty device to enlist the help of flies in pollination.
Many plants play out the game of love and reproduction in the heat of the tropical night, when they emit their irresistible fragrances designed to attract specific insect species. Other flowering species employ markings on their petals to indicate the exact placing of the rewards insects seek. Many orchid species, for example, are marked with lines and spots like an airfield, to show the insect where to land and in which direction to taxi (see "Orchids," below). Others display colors invisible to the human eye, yet clearly perceptible by insects whose eyesight spans the ultraviolet spectrum.
The most abundant flora in rainforest environments are ferns, light-gap pioneers found from sea level to the highest elevations. The ancient terrestrial ferns once served as food for many a prehistoric beast. The big tree ferns--sometimes called rabo de mico ("monkey-tail") ferns, an allusion to the uncurling young fronds - are relics from the age of the dinosaurs, sometimes a dozen feet tall, with fiddleheads large enough to grace a cello. Others are epiphytic, arboreal "nesters," or climbers whose long leaves can grapple upward for 60 feet or more.
The epiphytic environment (epiphyte comes from the Greek, "upon plants") is extremely poor in mineral nutrients, a kind of nutrient desert. The bromeliads, brilliantly flowering, spiky-leafed "air" plants up to four feet across, have developed tanks or cisterns which hold great quantities of rainwater and decaying detritus in the whorled bases of their tightly overlapping stiff leaves. The plants gain nourishment from dissolved nutrients in the cisterns. Known as "tank epiphytes," they provide trysting places and homes for tiny aquatic animals high above the ground. Costa Rica has over 2,000 species of bromeliads (including the pineapple), the richest deposit of such flora on the isthmus.
All plants depend on light to power the chemical process by which they synthesize their body substances from simple elements. Height is therefore of the utmost importance. When an old tree falls, the strong, unaccustomed light triggers seeds that have lain dormant, and banana palms and ginger plants, heliconias and cecropias - all plants that live in the sunshine on riverbanks or in forest clearings - burst into life and put out big broad leaves to soak up the sun, to flower and to fruit. Another prominent plant is the poor man's umbrella (sombrilla de pobre), whose name you'll remember if you get caught in a downpour while in the rainforest; its giant leaves make excellent impromptu umbrellas.
Tropical Rainforests
The Central American country of Costa Rica, despite its small size, has high levels of biological diversity with some 12,000 species of plants, 1,239 species of butterflies, 838 species of birds, 440 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 232 species of mammals. Costa Rica has an ambitious conservation program, perhaps one of the most developed among tropical rainforest countries, that protects more than 10 percent of the country. One protected strip of forest runs uninterrupted for 40 miles through nine ecological zones from sea level to 12,500 feet. In 1995, the government presented a plan to protect 18 percent of the country in national parks and another 13 percent in privately owned preserves. Areas targeted for protection are those with high biodiversity. The government funds the project by issuing landowners forest protection certificates which will annually pay landowners about $50 for every forest hectare (2.5 acres), with the agreement that the forest will be protected. Around two-thirds of Costa Rica's remaining rainforests are protected.
Costa Rica has initiated numerous inventive programs to promote sustainable development. One such project, organized by FUNDECOR (Foresta Project of the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range), works to sustainably manage more than 13,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of forest by developing forest management plans for landowners. Not only do the landowners end up with more money in their pockets, but operations also do less damage to the forest as they remove valuable trees.
Eco-tourism has become one of the most important sources of revenue for Costa Rica. The country is considered an ideal introduction to the rainforests for its biodiversity, its excellent and accessible parks system, and its relative safety for tourists. In some areas, tourism has proved a little too much for the environment and some parks now have restrictions on the number of visitors allowed at any given time. Further, the construction of hotels in some locations has proved ecologically controversial. Still, Costa Rica serves as a prime example to other developing countries that economic well-being is compatible with forest preservation.
Costa Rica is looking to capitalize on its forests in ways other than eco-tourism. In 2005, Costa Rica joined a coalition of tropical developing countries that proposed a "rainforest conservation for emissions" deal at the December United Nations summit on climate change in Montreal. The plan, which was accepted by the UN, called for wealthy nations to compensate poor nations for rainforest conservation. Costa Rica already had a similar program in place which protected rainforest by selling allowances to emit greenhouses gases. In 1999, the program generated some $20 million.
Despite its environmental rhetoric and conservation legislation, Costa Rica has a poor track record when it comes to deforestation. In the early 1990s, the country had one of the worst deforestation rates in Latin America. Costa Rica was once 99 percent forested, but forest cover has steadily diminished from 85 percent in 1940 to around 35 percent today according to the FAO's State of the World's Forests (FAO's Forest Resources Assessment says the current cover is closer to 50 percent). Historically, clearing for agriculture (mostly coffee and bananas) and cattle pastures has been the largest contributor to Costa Rica's rainforest destruction. During the 1970s and early 1980s, vast stretches of rainforest were burned and converted into cattle lands, but when the largest importer of Central American beef, the United States, ceased beef imports, Costa Rica was left with millions of acres of cleared land and a lot of cattle.
Today, while deforestation rates of natural forest have dropped considerably, Costa Rica's remaining forests still face threats from illegal timber harvesting in protected areas and conversion for agriculture and cattle pasture in unprotected zones. The popularity of Costa Rica as an eco-tourist destination makes parks a source of income rather than an expense, and past governments have been known to use park funds for making up budget shortfalls instead of maintaining protected areas. Corruption remains a problem in Costa Rica, though not as much as in nearby countries.
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