The tourist brochures, posters and books all show many incredible animal pictures of Costa Rica, as if these wild beasts were everywhere, overflowing and readily available for the tourist to see. Is this realistic? No, not really. Most wild creatures are in hiding from mankind, or afraid or even nocturnal. Many of these poster pictures are taken with distant lenses showing intimate details of behavior and habitat. Yes, these animals are here, there is amazing biodiversity, but I sadly encounter many tourists expecting to see monkeys, macaws, sloths and other animals overflowing everywhere. Usually they see the morpho and other brilliant butterflies, large toads, the white faced monkeys if off road, occasional animals in the raccoon family and lots of toucans and other beautiful birds. If they elect to do a water trip to Cano Island they may see snakes, bats, monkeys and caiman in the mangroves and if really lucky, dolphins, giant sea turtles and whales after crossing the b ar into the ocean.
Here at the Mango Tree Spa where I have resided for 5 years I have on occasion seen other animals. Again, most animals are nocturnal and most people go to bed early, so, that by itself, cuts down on the chance of seeing animals. Surprisingly, I have seen 5 wild Javelinas or peccary in mid-day. Peccaries belong to the order Artiodactyla, the hoofed mammals with an even number of toes. They are closely related to the Old World pigs and hippopotamuses, together forming the suborder Suiformes. Peccaries are small to medium-sized animals with a superficial resemblance to pigs, although they belong to an entirely different family. There are four toes on the front feet, of which the middle two are well-developed and support the body weight, while the two small lateral toes (the so-called false hoofs or dewclaws) do not usually touch the ground. Being territorial, they will defend there place, and if one of theirs is injured or attacked the will fiercely fight back.
On the lot above our property, the black panther or jacaranda has been seen with its baby, both holding up in the stump of a tree. A number of others have spotted jacaranda in the vicinity each year.
We had a sloth in one of our cecropia trees. These slow pokes live an interesting life. They stay up in the tree for a week or so at a time, come down once a week to pee and poop, a moth that lives in their coarse, greenish parasite ridden hair flys out, lays its egg in the poop and then she climbs back in her green lichen home. The sloth returns to his perch and eats off the cecropia tree. What a life!
A few weeks ago we spotted a silky anteater. I was glad to see this little guy around and was hoping he was busy doing his job.
There are lots of toads and different kinds of frogs hopping around night and day, but mostly night. You don't want to step on one of these. The green and black marbled tree frog is has been seen about 6 times. Many giant toads (Cane toads) like to take a dip in the pool at night so it is good to be aware of possible company should you go night-dipping yourself. One frog we have seen sits on a wall and changes its color to match the color of the wall. I believe it is the glass frog. Many nights are blessed with the sounds of the Dink frog which is more like a "ka-tunk".
Over sixty varieties of birds have been spotted from our balconies. Toucan callers are quite load and I wonder if it is a mating call or an announcement of the availability of food. In the rainy season our trees are alive with large green parrots, the orange chin parakeet or many other parakeets. They usually announce before it rains in the rainy season.
Snakes are here too. We have seen a number of snakes over the years but they mostly stay below in the jungle. Occasionally, the blue and yellow scaled mica comes around looking for a baby bird. The green bird snake is far slimmer and may beat the mica to the nest. We have had a handful of bug eyed snakes but have not seen one in the past three years. We have seen the Mussurana (red and black) snake that eats the Fer-de-lance and our choppers have encountered Fer-de-lance as well as the yellow pit-viper. I have seen one tiger snake with its beautiful black and chartreuse green coloring.
There are many types of butterflies, caterpillars with pokey spines, and numerous other bugs that serve their purpose. One is a double decker fruit bee that sometimes flits above-head. Many think this is a fly but, alas, it is a pesky little pollinating bee. Big giant beetles, some with rhino horns, some multi-colored and some just noisy are frequent spa visitors.
I think it is a good idea to have a realistic expectation as to the actual wildlife to be seen in Costa Rica. You may see very little or if you go on tours you very well may see many living creatures. Even when living here all the time, your chances of seeing wildlife are very sporadic. We must respect their timidity and fear of humans. Cute and cuddly is not the modicum of operation.
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