Which Animals Could I See In Costa Rica?

Posted by Connor Whelan on 27th Apr 2016

Which Animals Could You See In Costa Rica?

On our Turtle Conservation Experience in Costa Rica you will get the chance to aid in the conservation of different turtle species, but this is not the only animal you may be able to see on your travels to this Central American paradise. Thanks to its warm climate and lush rainforests, Costa Rica is home to hundreds of animal species, so we thought we would introduce you to just a few of the ones you may see on your trip. We can’t guarantee a sighting of any of these animals as they are wild, but if you keep your eyes peeled you may be lucky enough to spot one or two!

Howler Monkey

The Howler Monkey is one of the largest New World Monkeys on the planet today. Chances are you will recognise a Howler Monkey when you see one thanks to them being featured on many different nature documentaries over the years, but if you don’t then they have short snouts and wide-set, round nostrils. This type of nose is very helpful as it helps the monkeys to smell food (predominantly fruit and nuts) from up to 2km away! Howler Monkeys live in groups with the size ranging from 6 right up to 15, and to communicate with each other they make their famous howl which you can hear from up to 3 miles away!

Jaguar

The Jaguar is the third largest feline behind the tiger and the lion and their range extends from the Southwest states of the United States as far south as Argentina. They have a distinctive spotted coat which helps them blend into their jungle surroundings, and this camouflage helps them to hunt their preferred food sources of deer, snakes, monkeys, and basically anything else they can catch! Jaguars live and hunt alone and the male home range is between 19 and 53 square miles so you will have to have an eagle eye to spot one!

Crocodile

The American Crocodile is huge so if you do spot one we wouldn’t recommend getting very close at all. These imposing beasts can reach sizes of up to 20 feet and a weight of almost 1 ton. As you can probably imagine, the American Crocodiles diet is predominately made up of fish, but their broader snout enables them to tackle larger prey too.

Sloth

The sloth is another animal you may know about from the television, and if you do then you will probably be aware that they are famed for very slowly moving from branch to branch between the trees they live in. The area that sloths call home is Central and Southern America, deep in the rainforests, and this is here where they find the leaves, buds, and occasionally insects they live off of. Perhaps the most interesting fact about this animal is not about the sloth itself, but about what lives on it. Sloths’ fur is home to two symbiotic algae which help it to camouflage into the trees and protect it from predators!

This is by no means an extensive list of animals you could see in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, but hopefully we have helped you to learn a little more about them!

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