The Green Costa Rica
Common Wildlife of Costa Rica
Visitors to our country often arrive expecting to see jaguars jumping out from behind skyscrapers in San José.
Costa Rica protects nearly 26 percent of its national territories in national parks and wildlife reserves, and these protected areas are home to many mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
However, television documentaries, magazines articles and the tourism industry can create unrealistic expectations in travelers. Loss of habitat due to deforestation, poaching by hunters, and urban sprawl mean sighting large mammals in Costa Rica is extremely rare.
It is better to come to with the expectation you will be enjoying and learning about tropical ecosystems—plants, climate, topography, insects, and birds. That way, the animals you do see are pleasant surprises, not necessities for a successful tour.
That said, here are some of the wildlife visitors to Costa Rica commonly see.
Howler monkeys
Howler monkeys live in groups in Costa Rica's lowland forests. Each troop has its own territory which it defends and where it feeds. They defend their territory by using their loud voices. Howler monkeys eat flowers, fruits and seeds. Females have one infant at a time, which can often be seen clinging to its mother.
Sloths
Strictly neotropical, these slow moving mammals live high in the canopy, eat leaves and only come down to defecate (once a week). Two and three-toed sloths live in Costa Rica. Three-toed sloths can appear grey-greenish because of algae that grow on their fur.
Toucans
Five kinds of toucans live in Costa Rica, but the Keel Billed, to the right, is one of the most common. They use their large bills to hunt lizards, small snakes, frogs, as well as seeds and fruits. The bills are also useful to chase other birds away from their nests. They are social birds and can be found in groups of six or more. They nest in hollow tree trunks.
Green iguana
Costa Rica has two kinds of large lizard-like reptiles: green iguanas and “black iguanas” (which are not technically an iguana). These ground nesting reptiles can be found high in the treetops, feeding on leaves and basking in the sun. Juvenile iguanas eat grubs and other invertebrates, while adults are mostly plant eaters but will occasionally eat small mammals and nesting birds.
White nosed Coati
A relative of the raccoon, these medium—sized mammals are diurnal live in large groups, but some adult males live on their own. These omnivores are active feeders that look for food on the ground as well as in the trees. They feed by poking their long noses in holes and crevices, and use their long claws to tear apart rotten tree trunks.
Leaf cutter ants
Leaf cutter ants carry vegetation that can weigh more than 10 times their own weight for a distance up to 150 meters, back to their nest. They chew the leaf and mix it with saliva to create a substrate that feeds a fungus culture—their main food. Found in dry and wet forest. Queens, workers, soldiers and hitchhikers —ants who ride on leaves transported by other ants and clean the leaves— make up a colony.
Biodiversity in numbers
Known as a hotspot for biodiversity, Costa Rica packs 4.5% of the world’s known plants and animals (90,000 species) in just .03% of the planet’s surface. This places the country among the top 20 most biodiversity rich places in the world and among the top 10 most biodiversity rich rainforest ecosystems. But perhaps more important for travelers, the country holds among the greatest density of species of all countries in the world. This means that on one trip, travelers are likely to come in contact with more biodiversity than other places.
Costa Rica’s biodiversity is due to its geographical position in the Tropical Americas, as well as its geological history as a land bridge between two continents, with two coasts and three mountain ranges that created numerous and varies microclimates.
Costa Rica is home to 11,451 species of plants, 857 bird species, 239 mammals, 226 reptiles, 183 amphibians and 103 species of fresh water fish for a total of 13,091 species. All this does not even include insects, with 360,000 species, or ocean species living within the country’s 59,000 square kilometers of marine territory.
The country has 45% forest cover with 24.3% dedicated to agriculture. National parks, forestry and biological reserves and other conservation areas represent 26% of the national territory and 12% of marine territory.
Costa Rica's National Parks
Costa Rica protects approximately 26 percent of its national territory in national parks, wildlife reserves, forest preserves and private reserves. The map below shows areas protected by the National Parks System.
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