Animals in Costa Rica

Costa Rica covers only a tiny share of the planet's land, yet it holds about 5 percent of the world's species, packed between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. About 5 million people live there, many of them in the cool Central Valley around San José, and a chain of mountains and volcanoes runs down the middle of the country, so a short drive can take you from hot lowland jungle to misty cloud forest. The Caribbean side is wet almost all year, while the Pacific side, and especially Guanacaste in the northwest, has a clear dry season from about December to April. Each of these worlds has its own animals: monkeys, sloths and jaguars in the lowland rainforests of Corcovado and Tortuguero, quetzals in the cloud forests of Monteverde, white tailed deer and rattlesnakes in the dry forests of Guanacaste, and caimans in wetlands like Caño Negro. Two coasts add sea turtle nesting beaches, coral reefs and offshore islands where sharks gather.

People and wildlife have a special relationship here. In the 1980s forests covered only about a fifth of the country, but programs that pay landowners to protect forest helped bring them back, and today more than half of Costa Rica is forested again. About a quarter of the land is protected in parks and reserves, and Cocos Island, the Guanacaste Conservation Area and the Talamanca mountains are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Rescue centers across the country care for sloths, monkeys and birds hurt by cars, dogs, power lines and the pet trade.

Wildlife is the heart of tourism. Visitors look for sloths and monkeys in Manuel Antonio, watch sea turtles nest at Tortuguero, search for quetzals in Monteverde, see humpback whales off the southern Pacific coast and dive with hammerhead sharks at Cocos Island.

Despite its peaceful image, Costa Rica has animals that can be dangerous if people ignore basic precautions. Snakes are the main risk. The country has about 140 kinds of snake, around 20 of them venomous, and pit vipers that live in lowland forests, banana plantations and farms cause most bites, mostly among farm workers and mostly at night. Rattlesnakes live in the dry forests of Guanacaste. Bites to tourists are very rare, and hospitals carry antivenom made in Costa Rica itself.

Caimans rest in rivers and wetlands such as Caño Negro and Tortuguero, and they rarely bother people, but it is wise not to swim in murky rivers. Wild cats are powerful, but they avoid humans and attacks are almost unknown, and monkeys that are used to tourists can bite if someone tries to feed or touch them. At sea, several kinds of shark gather around offshore islands such as Cocos and the Bat Islands, and large predatory fish live on the reefs, but incidents with divers are very rare. Boots on jungle trails, a flashlight at night, never feeding wildlife and swimming with a guide keep visitors safe.

Costa Rica's best known animals are spread across its forests, and many of them are easy to find with a local guide. Sloths are the stars of any trip: they rest in the trees of Manuel Antonio, Cahuita and the forests around La Fortuna, and guides with telescopes spot them even when they look like a ball of leaves. White faced capuchins are just as easy to see, and in Manuel Antonio they often raid beach bags. The jaguar is much harder, but Corcovado National Park, on the Osa Peninsula, is its stronghold, and at Tortuguero jaguars have been seen hunting sea turtles on the beach at night. The cougar, the ocelot, the margay and the jaguarundi live in forests across the country, though they are shy and mostly known from tracks and camera traps. In the dry forests of Guanacaste, white tailed deer graze in the open and rattlesnakes hide in the leaf litter, so boots are a good idea. Coyotes have spread through the country in recent decades and now reach farmland and even the edges of towns.