### Aug 15, 2017

# Animals of Costa Rica

**Exploring Costa Rica**

Costa Rica has a lot of amazing creatures. My family and I discovered everything from tiny dart frogs to HUGE crocodiles when we went there on holiday. It was so much fun, and I can’t wait to go back. Most of the pictures taken in this gallery are from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, but we visited the Pacific side too. I hope you like learning about the animals of Costa Rica as much as I did.

- JD

P.S. My family and I took all the pictures in this gallery ourselves!

**Sloth - Perezoso**

Look carefully up into the trees and you may see a sloth. They move very slowly and usually only come down to the ground to poop! There are both Three-toed and Two-toed sloths in Costa Rica.

**Strawberry Dart Frog aka Blue Jeans Dart Frog – Ranie venenosa rojiazul**  When we first saw this frog, we hoped that it was the “Golden Toad” because the Golden Toad is believed to be extinct. (We really hoped it wasn’t gone forever.) A herpetologist confirmed that it is the Strawberry Dart Frog. It sometimes has blue legs that makes it look like it’s wearing jeans. But this one forgot to put his pants on this morning!

**HUUUUGE bugs!**

There are creepy crawlies everywhere, and in the rainforest, they grow enormous! I’m glad the mosquitoes at home don’t get this big.

**Emerald Basilisk – Basiliscus verde**  The Basilisk, aka The Jesus Christ Lizard, has long toes and fast feet. It can actually run across the water to escape predators.

**Green iguana - Iguana verde**

Green Iguanas can grow to more than 2 metres long. We were on a tour of a local rescue centre and a wild iguana fell out of the tree and landed on the ground right next to our group. It sat there for a few seconds, then took off super fast. Some people eat the wild iguanas and their populations are declining.

**Reptiles catching some sun!**

They love the warm temperatures of Costa Rica.

**Crocodile - Cocodrilo**

On our way to Jaco on the west coast of Costa Rica, there were a lot of people standing on a bridge looking down into the water. We stopped, and WOW! The water was full of gigantic crocodiles! Definitely not a good place to go swimming. They can grow to more than 4 metres long. In 2016, the tiny country of Costa Rica was second to Brazil in the number of crocodile attacks on humans.

Caimans don’t get as big as crocodiles or alligators, but I wouldn’t want to swim with one! This caiman is about 2 metres long and seems pretty happy to hang out in the sun – for now.

**Black and Green Dart Frog - Ranita venenosa vertinegra**

The Black and Green Dart Frog is poisonous, so if you touch them, you have to wash your hands. They are very common and beautiful and small. They are less than 3cm long.

**Leaf Cutter Ants**

Leaf Cutter Ants are farmers! They don’t eat the leaves. They take the leaves back to their nests where the leaves help grow a fungus. They eat the fungus! They are so busy, they create their own trails. Can you imagine carrying something that much bigger than you all day, every day?

The Eyelash Palm Viper is a deadly, venomous snake. This one was actually close to the trail we walked on almost every day. It’s a lot smaller than I expected, and was hard to see amongst all the leaves. I think it’s beautiful! While they aren’t aggressive towards humans, they will defend themselves. Be careful and keep your eyes open for snakes! If you see a snake – stay back.

**Bye! Thanks for exploring with me!**