An endemic wealth
About 3 million years ago, the two Americas were joined by an isthmus, causing the migration and meeting of species from north to south and from south to north. The isthmus became the crossroads of the Americas and an essential ecological corridor, developing a great diversity of fauna and flora. The animals adapt to very varied ecosystems, meet new predators and are forced to develop sometimes complex strategies to survive and adapt. Having become a laboratory of the most beautiful wonders that nature has in store for us, Costa Rica is certainly the Latin American country whose fauna and flora are the richest and most varied.
Aterrestrial paradise of about 205 species of mammals, including beautiful felines - such as the ocelot, the jaguar, the puma, the margay and the very rare tiger cats - and four species of monkeys, Costa Rica also has 870 species of birds, including toucans, hummingbirds (about 50 species), the green woodpecker(carpintero), the frigatebird, the kingfisher, the zopilot (large vulture), the jabiru, the pink spoonbill, parrots, macaws and the emblematic quetzal.
In addition to its 220 species of reptiles and 160 species of amphibians, the country has 35,000 species of insects: on the ground, the activity is abundant. Colonies of ants, sometimes reaching 2 million individuals, dig sophisticated galleries. In the heart of the anthill, the queens can reach impressive sizes: the leaf cutter ant can reach 5 cm and live up to 20 years.
Scientists continue to count new species every year and estimate that there are still 2% of unknown vertebrates and 40% of unidentified fish.
As formarine species, the famous leatherback turtle, the largest marine turtle, leaves no visitor unmoved and is easily observed in its natural habitat.
On the vegetation side, from the ground to the tree tops, the unsuspected secrets of the flora are as exuberant as they are astonishing: while Brazil has 6 different species of trees per square kilometer, Colombia has 35 and Costa Rica 295! We find here a great variety of forests: humid mountainous, dry tropical and humid tropical (34% of the territory). These forests are home to many plant species: there are 10,000 species of plants! Tree ferns, cheese trees, heliconias, epiphytic bromeliads, including nearly 1,200 varieties of orchids out of the 1,400 listed in the world. From the beautiful bangs of coconut trees to the giant massifs that emerge from the mists of altitude, the qualifiers are insufficient to describe the explosion of greenery that enchants the senses. Finally, the primary forests of the Osa Peninsula are the richest and best preserved in Central America. From the mountain forest to the cloud forest, there is a tropical climate where the rains follow one another, where sometimes 500 trees intermingle with other endemic plants that participate in the beauty of all this abundance.
A unique but fragile biodiversity
To be able to be in contact with animals in their natural habitat is something rare. This feeling, as powerful as it is inexpressible, is all the more galvanized by the scarcity of species. While the global decline of wildlife is accelerating, Costa Rica is committed to a green policy to protect its natural heritage. Extreme drought, global warming, forest destruction, agricultural pesticides or even parasites, the combination of several factors have, like everywhere else, threatened the country's biodiversity. The forest that once covered 99% of the territory now covers only 34% (80% in 1950!). Since the 1960s, the country has been implementing specific measures to ensure better conservation of its species. Unique, precious and fragile, the biodiversity of Costa Rica is part of the ecological and economic program of the country: it must be preserved.
With its 870 species of birds, it is one of the first places of ornithological observation in the world. One often comes with the hope of observing the quetzal, the most famous of all, a tropical bird with emerald green and red plumage. Of Mayan origin, its name means "flying snake". Sacred to the Maya, it was forbidden to kill it and only the chiefs were allowed to wear its feathers on their headdresses. Fierce, it is an absolute symbol of freedom but is now on the IUCN red list of threatened species. Many other birds are threatened, including the lapas verde and roja (macaws), the harpy eagle, the pechirufo falcon or the guachipelín.
Among its tropical fauna, Costa Rica has multiple species of turtles, including the leatherback turtle, the star, unfortunately in critical danger of extinction due to poaching, pollution or accidental fishing.
Very present on the territory, the monkeys do not escape the phenomena of deforestation, and even if you will most certainly have the chance to observe a howler monkey, a capuchin monkey or a spider monkey, the titis (or squirrel monkey) are becoming rarer. Their population has dropped from 200,000 to less than 5,000 individuals in the space of 30 years.
Even on the amphibian side, the poison frog(sapo venenoso) and the clown frog are in danger of extinction. The golden toad(sapo dorado) is now unfortunately classified as extinct. Even the three-toed brown-throated sloth is endangered!
Concrete actions to protect the environment
Collaborative works, education projects, reforestation, investigation center or even creation of international protected natural area, Costa Rica deploys multiple concrete actions in order to safeguard its fauna and flora. First of all, an Environmental Court, created in 1995, condemns the infringements of the ecological line of conduct. In particular, economic development is condemned to the detriment of nature's interests. Then, still in favor of conservation, the country joined with 13 other countries in 2012 to recreate a biological corridor suitable for the movement of the jaguar. That same year, the government announced a ban on hunting: a historic law that once again demonstrates Costa Rica's lead over other countries in Central and South America. Jaguars, macaws, tapirs, pumas, turtles and other monkey species were among the preferred trophies of hunters. This historical decision, beyond the protection of the fauna, has for objective to protect the first economic pan of the country, namely the ecotourism. Costa Rica understands that the protection of all these species is essential if the country wants to keep its showcase as a "green" country with preserved nature. Costa Rica has, of course, every interest in remaining the "nature" destination par excellence, but the country has requirements and ethics that go far beyond that: its Constitution protects nature, different laws on biodiversity govern justice, the country has also sanctuarized a large part of its territory and was the first state to reverse the deforestation process. These commitments were reinforced at the end of 2022 at the COP 15 in Canada: the flagship measure to place at least 30% of the world's land and sea under legal protection by 2030 was adopted. This goal is the fulfillment of the action initiated at the One Planet Summit in 2021 with the creation of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC), co-chaired by Costa Rica, France and the UK.
A complex network of tropical forests
The forest is certainly the greatest wealth of Costa Rica. There are several types of forests that are often differentiated by their age.
First of allthe primary forest, from the origin of time, is the one that all the continents knew a few million years ago. Little subjected to climatic variations and with the ground always soaked by condensation, it shelters an incomparable diversity of plant and animal species. It is composed of high trees forming a dense canopy, at a height of about forty meters, from which emerge from time to time higher trees such as the roble or the ceiba.
Then we distinguish the secondary forest, which accidentally takes the place of the previous one, but lacking the same quality of wealth, because nature does not manage, in a few hundred years, to reach the biological wealth resulting from successive evolutions over the millennia. The other distinction of the forest is that due to the climates, habitats.
Among these forests, it is necessary to distinguish the tropical rainforest(rainforest or bosque lluvioso), the richest, but the most threatened by deforestation. There are two of them in Costa Rica: el bosque lluvioso del Caribe (east of Talamanca, Manzanillo) and (Corcovado). Finally, there are also thecloudforest or bosque nuboso, the tropical dryforest or bosque seco, the savanna and finally the mangrove(manglar).
The cloud forest(el bosque nuboso), also called "forest of the fogs", is the tropical highland forest that meets the cloud layer. Here, the trees are bathed in fog with a permanent humidity that favors the appearance of ubiquitous mosses. The cloud forest is as beautiful as it is mystical, it can be found everywhere like in Monteverde, in Cerro de la Muerte, in Chirripó... It is the kingdom of amphibians, the magnificent quetzal and orchids.
The dry tropical forest(el bosque seco) receives, as its name indicates, much less water than the previous ones (2,000 mm per year anyway). Influenced by the Pacific Ocean, it extends from Mexico to the Nicoya Peninsula. With wet and dry seasons, it is very different from the rainforests, but it is no less varied. In the heart of these forests, there are no large ceibas that pierce the canopy in search of light, but large guanacastes in the shape of a parasol to protect themselves from the sun.
Finally, a very particular form of vegetation, the mangrove develops along the coasts, where the salty and warm water stagnates on flat ground and hugs the fresh water, just as warm. It is made up of compact groves of trees, the mangrove trees, which are distinguished by their aerial roots that look like the legs of giant insects. This system allows the roots to absorb oxygen from the air before sinking into the mud. The mangrove is essential to the protection of the coastline, and its destruction, often for economic reasons, has serious ecological consequences. It is the habitat of many animal species, especially birds, reptiles and amphibians.
