Animals and Wildlife

    One of the most interesting and exciting things to experience in Costa Rica is the incredible wildlife. In fact, Costa Rica contains a whopping 6% of the world's biodiversity, even though it accounts for only 0.03% of the earth's surface. Below are just a few of the amazing creatures I have seen here in Costa Rica:

1. Parrots and Toucans: They live nearby ABC de la Vida and come to visit every few days, especially in the mornings. It is easy to see their bright colors as they soar across the blue skies. One morning, about five parrots were eating fruit from a tree right above our heads! My favorite fact about both parrots and toucans is that they mate for life. That's why you almost always see them in pairs. (For more information about the parrots and toucans of Costa Rica, visit my post "A new alarm clock: Roosters, Macaws, Toucans, and More."

2. Monkeys: Watch out for these little tricksters! Although they are adorable, many of the monkeys like to still food, jewelry, hats, or anything they can get their paws on. This is especially true for monkeys that live on or near the beaches because there are so many tourists near them. The monkeys at ABC de la Vida never seemed to steal anything since there were more cautious around people. We did love feeding them bananas, though! 

3. Other birds: From peacocks and pheasants to roosters and chickens, there is an enormous variety of captive birds. For instance, we visited a small park area where we visited a peacock, chickens, and sheep.

4. Dogs: While dogs sound fairly standard, the number of stray dogs in Costa Rica is enormous compared to the Arizona. There are over one million stray dogs in the country, and many of them can be seen roaming the streets and sleeping in alleyways. Even dogs that have owners rarely have collars, and they often live and sleep outside of the house. This was certainly something that took me some time to get used to. 

5. Sloths: Although they can be difficult to spot in the wild, these cute little creatures can be found throughout the country, especially in national parks and reserves. One of the other NAU students here is doing an internship at a local animal wildlife refuge, and she introduced us to Bob and Marley, two young sloths who live there. 

    If you want to read more about the biodiversity of Costa Rica, I suggest reading the following two articles: 

1. The "Environment" page of the Costa Rican Embassy in Washington DC website: Environment | Embajada de Costa Rica en DC (costarica-embassy.org)

2. The article titled "The Extraordinary Biodiversity of Costa Rica" by the Costa Rican News: The Extraordinary Biodiversity of Costa Rica ⋆ The Costa Rica News . 

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