Animals in Belize

Belize is a small country on the Caribbean coast of Central America, the only one in the region where English is the official language, and it has kept more of its wild places than most of its neighbors. Only about 400,000 people live there, more than half of the land is still forest, and about a third of the country is protected in parks and reserves. The climate is hot and humid, with a rainy season from about June to November, when hurricanes are also possible. The land changes from the dry pine savannas and wetlands of the north to the Maya Mountains and thick rainforest of the south, crossed by rivers and limestone caves, and that forest is home to all five of the country's wild cats, from the jaguar to the jaguarundi, along with tapirs, spider monkeys and scarlet macaws. The coast is lined with mangroves and lagoons where manatees feed, and offshore runs the Belize Barrier Reef, the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, dotted with more than a hundred small islands called cayes and with the famous Great Blue Hole.

People and wildlife have shared this land for a long time. The ancient Maya built great cities like Caracol and Lamanai in the forest, and their ruins are now surrounded by jungle again. Modern Belize made conservation part of its identity: in 1986 it created the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the first jaguar preserve in the world, and in 1996 the Belize Barrier Reef became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wildlife is at the center of tourism. Visitors snorkel and dive the reef from Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, swim with whale sharks at Gladden Spit in spring, hike Cockscomb looking for jaguar tracks and watch scarlet macaws in the villages of the south.

The most dangerous animals in Belize are its venomous snakes, although serious incidents are rare. Pit vipers cause most snakebites in the country; they live in forests, plantations and even near villages, and they are most active at night, while rattlesnakes are found in the drier pine savannas and forests of the north. Most bites happen to farm workers, so wearing boots on jungle trails, using a light at night and taking care when lifting logs or leaves are the best protection, and anyone bitten should get to a hospital at once.

Wild cats are strong enough to hurt a person, but they avoid people and attacks are almost unheard of. At sea, several kinds of large shark hunt around the outer reefs, cayes and river mouths, and large predatory fish with long, toothy jaws can bite if a shiny object catches their eye, but trouble with divers and snorkelers is very uncommon. Swimming and diving with a guide, taking off shiny jewelry in the water and never feeding wild animals keep visitors safe both in the jungle and on the reef.

Belize's best known animals are led by its wild cats, and the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the world's first jaguar preserve, protects all five of them. The jaguar is the most famous, and although sightings are rare, visitors often find its tracks on the muddy trails, especially in the early morning. The cougar shares the same forests, and the three smaller cats complete the family: the ocelot with its spotted coat, the margay, which can climb down trees head first thanks to its turning ankles, and the jaguarundi, a plain colored cat with a long body that often hunts by day. White tailed deer are common along forest edges and farmland across the country, and coyotes have spread into the open country of the north in recent decades. Two venomous snakes make the list, the rattlesnake of the drier north and the lancehead, called tommygoff by Belizeans, which lives in forests and farms across the lowlands. The scarlet macaw nests in the Chiquibul forest and gathers in the village of Red Bank to feed on wild fruit in the dry season.