Wild Animals in Costa Rica Jungles
Wild Animals in Costa Rica Jungles
Costa Rica is rich in natural resources in the forms of seascapes, landscapes and wildlife. Aside from the country’s rich geographical qualities such as tropical jungles and glorious beaches, Costa Rica is also blessed with a great biodiversity.
The blessed isle of Costa Rica is home to the Harpy Eagle. Considered as one of the largest and most powerful birds known, the Harpy Eagle was named after Hades’ wind spirits for its strength and agility. The Harpy Eagles are carnivores and are known to snatch up a monkey, a sloth or a porcupine from treetops for sustenance. They have black feathers but their undersides are covered in white. A typical female Harpy Eagle weighs about six to nine kilograms while its male counterpart weighs to only about four to five kilograms. Harpy Eagles are recently considered as near threatened. The destruction of their habitats such as deforestation and logging has made this particular species almost extinct. According to some travelogues, some of the Harpy Eagles can be seen in the Corcovado area.
The medium sized mammals called sloths are mostly prey to the Harpy Eagles and can also be found in Costa Rica’s jungles. These creatures are known to spend their time sleeping for more than eighteen hours a day. Two types of sloths can be found in Costa Rica, the commonly seen three-toed sloth and the nocturnal two-toed sloth. Three-toed sloths are considered herbivores while the two-toed sloths are omnivores preying on leaves, tender shoots, insects and small reptiles. Due to the endangerment of these species, sanctuaries, like the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica, have been built to help protect them from further extinction.
Costa Rica is also known for their jungle wild cats. The country is actually home to six species of wild cats from the largest to the smallest—the Jaguar, Jaguarundi, Puma, Ocelot, Margay Cat and Tigrillo. Jaguars are the largest carnivores weighing 56 to 96 kilograms. They have the recorded lengths to about 1.62 to 1.83 metres with its tail even adding about 75 centimetres to its total body length. The smallest wild cat growing to about 38 to 59 centimetres is called the Tigrillo or Oncillo.
The Jaguarundi is a medium sized wild cat that is also called Leoncillo, which means little lion. Sometimes they are also called otter cats. They have short round ears, short legs and elongated body and tail and from afar, they look like otters. The Puma, also known as mountain lion or cougar, is the fourth largest cat in the world with the body length of 1.5 to 2.75 metres. They are best known for their hunting skills. The Margay cat and Ocelot are two different species of cats that look similar. Both are medium sized cats that have similar features with the domestic cat. Their fur normally comes in brown fur with either spots or stripes of black, white or dark brown in them.
Most of these animals can only be seen in Costa Rica’s rich and diversified jungles. Currently, their numbers are slowly decreasing due to numerous deforestation and pollution. But the people of Costa Rica are doing everything they can to preserve and help these wild animals.
Costa Rica Animals – Wildlife guide on CostaricaJourneys.com
Volunteer in Costa Rica: RanchoDelicioso.com
