The Wildlife of Costa Rica

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] More than 70% of the howler monkeys rescued at Refuge for Wildlife are injured due to unsafe power distribution equipment. It is a very sad fact that most cannot survive the gruesome wounds caused by electrocution. Almost half are...

Photo above: Volunteer biologist Nancy Tankersley reaches into a fresh turtle nest to scoop out the eggs before poachers do. Photo: Nancy Tankersley. Poachers got to the nest in Playa Lagartillo first. Where there should have been dozens of sea turtle eggs buried in the beach, there was just a hole. The eggs had been stolen by human hands, to be sold on the black market as aphrodisiacs (a myth).

Scarlet Macaws Return to the Guanacaste. In a flurry of crimson, blue and yellow feathers, seven scarlet macaws took flight into the green of the Costa Rican coastal forest, signaling the historic return of a species once vanquished from this area.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Refuge for Wildlife Animal Rescue.  Many areas of Guanacaste are experiencing a surge in human development. Fragmented habitats and electricity installations are causing wildlife deaths and injuries. Electrical cables provide an...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Cuckoo, Cuckoo! Not a Rare Sound in Costa Rica.  You probably know the familiar sound, if not the little bird, of Bavarian clock renown. In fact, these clocks originated with the cuckoo bird species found in the forests of Germany....

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The mussurana (clelia clelia) is a medium-sized snake species in the colubrid genus. It is found primarily in a geographic region that includes Costa Rica, extending from Guatemala south to Brazil. Most Ticos know the snake by the...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Dirty, gross, awful… a few words commonly associated with vultures, but in reality anything but the truth. Vultures are an essential part of the ecosystem. They provide a vital service by cleaning up what would otherwise become a...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Gregarious and loud, their unmistakable calls resembling a crowd of people all gargling at the same time, they are heard before being seen. Oropendolas, the largest member of the blackbird family that includes blackbirds, orioles,...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I knew we would see big cats when we went to the Las Pumas animal rescue center in Cañas, Costa Rica. I didn’t know we would see a collared peccary in love with a three-legged deer. But there they were in the same enclosure, the...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Wildlife Rescue Turtle in Trouble: As some Howler readers may be aware, my final year of veterinarian training was focused on wildlife rescue before I established my current practice in Guanacaste. I was interested in that specialty...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Monkey throwing poop – bombs away: Howler monkeys are what visitors to the Gold Coast typically like to see up close and personal. However, howlers are arboreal — that is, they spend most of their lifetime high up in the branches of...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] American Costa Rica Crocodile: Visitors in Costa Rica can view the American crocodile at one of several prime spots, about 50 miles (85 km) west of San José, on the Tarcoles River. Here, they can be seen in abundance from the...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The elephant beetle is an exceptionally large, herbivorous insect species. Most of its time is spent in trees, feeding on decaying wood, sap and fruit. As the elephant beetle name implies, these creatures are elephantine in size...

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Costa Rica creature feature oncilla: Oncilla, often referred to as the little spotted cat, or in Costa Rica as the tigrillo. This Costa Rica cat is the smallest species of wildcat in this country. Living in the mountain forests at...