Costa Rica Plants & Animals

Costa Rica is part of the bridge connecting North and South America.  As such, its flora and fauna show affinities to both regions.

PLANTS

As a tropical nation, Costa Rica has an extremely high diversity of plants.  Unlike northern forests, where a half-dozen species of tree can dominate many acres, in Costa Rica's forests, there can be dozens of tree species on a single acre.  The majority in the lowlands are related to South American counterparts; but in the high mountain cloud forests, there are many related to temperate North American forms.  Among the most impressive of these are the oaks -- but what oaks they are!  They tower overhead, often with thick buttress roots, looking so much like stereotypical jungle trees; and their acorns can be several inches in diameter.

Other conspicuously abundant plants are the passion flowers, of which Costa Rica has many different species; bromeliads, which look like pineapple tops perched in tree branches; Araceae, a group including the anthuriums, philodendrons, and elephant ears; and heliconia, with their brilliant lobster-claw shaped flower sheaths.  Palms form thickets on the forest floor.  Strangler figs gradually engulf other trees in a mesh of ever-thickening roots.

ANIMALS

Some of the most easily seen and beautiful animals in Costa Rica are insects.  The heliconius butterflies (not to be confused with the heliconia flower) flutter actively in sunny openings in the forest, especially around passion flower vines, their carterpillars' food.  Where you see the big, compound leaves of the cecropia tree, look carefully, for this is the preferred hangout for the three-toed sloth.  Once you see a sloth, you need not worry about it running away -- sloths hardly move at all, and in fact will probably still be in the same tree the next day.  If you leave things lying around outside -- especially food -- you may recieve an unwanted visit from coatis, those long-tailed and long-nosed critters which act like the Costa Rican version of a raccoon.  In the forest, you may catch a glimpse of the agouti, a rodent that looks a bit like a small deer.

But among the most popular Costa Rican wildlife are the birds and the monkeys.  Costa Rica is a world-reknowned birding destination, with hundreds of species, from small, colorful manakins and tanagers, to noisy parrots, to the spectacular green quetzal.  There are several species of toucans, and the strange motmot with its distinctive tail feathers.  The three most likely monkeys to see here are the spider monkey, the capuchin, and the howler.  Howlers are known for the male's booming territorial calls, often at dawn, which can be heard a mile away.  All three of these monkey species will often descend into the lower branches to investigate human intruders -- and may throw things if they decide they don't like you.

Costa Rica is also the only place in the world to find the rare, golden form of the eyelash viper.  This snake is a beautiful, clear yellow all over, and known by the local name of oropel, which translates as "golden skin."