Nature
Costa Rica is part of many ecoregions, including Costa Rican seasonal moist forests, Bocas del Toro-San Bastimentos Island-San Blas mangroves, Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves, Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves, Central American dry forests, and Talamancan montane forests.
Parks and Reserves
Corcovado National Park is internationally-renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs), and visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife.
Tortuguero National Park (the name Tortuguero can be translated as full of turtles) is home to spider, howler and white-throated Capuchin monkeys, the three-toed sloth, 320 species of birds (including eight species of parrots), a variety of reptiles, but is mostly recognised for the annual nesting of the endangered green turtle and is considered the most important nesting site for this species. Giant leatherback, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles also nest here.
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve hosts 2,000 plant species including numerous orchids. Over 400 types of birds can be found here, as well as over 100 species of mammals.
Animal Diversity
Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's land mass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. Over 25% of Costa Rica is composed of protected forests and reserves. Sometimes known as the 'biological crossroads' of the world, Costa Rica's inhabitants are made up of more than 500,000 species of animal, including 800 species of birds.
Butterflies and Moths
There are about 1,250 species of butterflies and at least 8,000 species of moths. They are common year round but are more prolific during the rainy season. Some common butterflies and moths in Costa Rica include:
- Thoas Swallowtail
- Marpesia berania
- Dotocopa laure
- Banded Peacock
- Zebra longwing
- Morpho butterfly
- Green Page Moth
Other Insects
Invertebrate species make up most of Costa Rica's wildlife. Of the estimated 505,000 species, about 493,000 are invertebrates (including spiders and crabs). It is known that there are tens of thousands if insects and microscopic invertebrates in every land type and elevation level. However, they are largely unidentified.
Some notable insects in Costa Rica are stingless bees, ants such as leaf-cutter ants and army ants, Hercules beetle, and katydids.
Amphibians
Costa Rica is home to around 175 amphibians. There are 35 species of Elutherodoctylus frogs, 26 species of Hyla Frogs and 13 species of glassfrogs. Notable frog species in Costa Rica include Red-eyed Tree Frog, a few species of Poison Dart Frogs, the semitransparent Glass Frogs and the large Smokey Jungle Frog.
Some notable toad species in Costa Rica include the ten species of Bufo toads, and the Giant toad a huge toad known for its wide appetite. It has been documented eating almost anything, including vegetables, ants, spiders, any toad smaller than itself, mice and other small mammals.
Birds
Although Costa Rica is a small country, it is in the highly diverse neotropical region, and thus has a huge number of species for its area. 894 bird species have been recorded in the country (including Cocos Island), more than all of the United States and Canada combined. More than 600 of the Costa Rican species are permanent residents, and upwards of 200 are migrants, spending portions of the year outside of the country, usually in North America. Seven of the Costa Rican species are considered endemic, and 19 are globally threatened.
One of the principal reasons for the considerable diversity of birds (and other flora and fauna) in Costa Rica is that the country, together with the land now considered Panama, formed a bridge connecting the North and South American continents approximately three to five million years ago. This bridge allowed the very different birds of the two continents to mix.
