Photos

Our photos concerning our travel report of Costa Rica

In the Central American country Costa Rica with 51,000 square kilometers area you could find in its territory 5% of all known life species on earth, and is a real natural paradise. Here you will find the different landscapes in a wonderful panorama. The Costa Rican people keep these landscapes and the invaluable species diversity in an extensive natural protection system. A quarter of the country is protected. In Costa Rica are nine active volcanoes and active volcanic mountains, with the highest point of 3,800 m.

We almost always had a camera with us to keep our impressions. Here are just few of our photos of animals, which we had taken on our mountain bike tours. Have fun to watch.


	Mantled howlers (Araguato or easier Congos) are the most common animals observed by us in Costa Rica. You will always see them in herds and they move from area to area. Unmistakable are their loud screams, especially at dawn. The young animals were lead from tree to tree by the male.


	Often we met the "coati" (Nasua narica, here known as pizote) in Costa Rica. It is a relative of the raccoon (Procyon lotor, here also known as mapache), with its typical facial drawing. The skin color of the coatimundis could look completely different after changing their coat. They are very friendly/trusting and we fed them with bananas. These animals, that you will often find in larger groups, often shocked many tourists, after suddenly eating their breakfast.


	Crocodiles (Crocodilia, here also known as cocodrilo)come across in almost all rivers in Costa Rica. It distinguishes between crocodiles and caimans. Crocodiles are the family of real crocodiles and caimans belong to the group of alligators. Although caimans are much slower, they could get twice older. Finally, we often found warning signs on the rivers: "Beware, crocodiles!"


	The nocturnal armadillos (Cingulata) live mainly on insects, preferably ants, and are close relatives of sloths and anteaters. The almost blind animals are protected with hard ledges, which cover almost the whole body.


	The green iguana (Iguana iguana, here known as iguana) reminds us with his neck crest of the time of the dinosaurs. They are vegetarians and can have a body length of up to 2 meters. You will often see them on trees, because they are perfect in climbing. The iguanas are under protection of species. Nevertheless, they were sometimes caught by the locals for eating.


	The beach is moving when thousands of crawfishes (Pagurus bernhardus)move with their houses on their backs on the beaches of Guanacaste. The biologist Dr. Karsten Müller of the University of Rostock, who we met by chance in the hotel, reported that the crawfishes need both the sea and the nearby mangroves for reproduction.


	The hummingbird (flor pica) is the smallest bird in the world. Even the largest among them, the Giant Hummingbird, has only a weight of 20g. It already whizz directly after sunrise with about 80 wing beats per second through the air. They live on insects that they catch during the flight, and nectar, that they suck from the flowers.

You can find the bright red macaws (Ara macao) only on the Pacific coast in Costa Rica. They are in danger because of their colorful feathers. The biggest parrots of the whole world fly in pairs from tree to tree to share their food.

You will find the black headed trogon (Trogon melanocephalus) only in the northwest of Costa Rica. There it lives predominant on insects, fruits and other invertebrates. They dig a cave with their beak and their feet in rotten trees or termite mounds to breed there.

You could find almost everywhere on the Pacific coast the most gifted glider pilots and divers in the world, the brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis). They live almost exclusively on fish.

The motmot (Momotus) is very colorful with its long tail feathers and one of the most beautiful birds of Costa Rica. The great northern diver is a relative of the motmot. They build their nests in a hole in the ground.

The arassari (Pelecanus occidentalis) is a member of the group toucans. Its appearance differs from area to area. In the early morning they often visited the crowns of trees and search for fruit and insects. Some people build some small mangers and put fruits in it to attract these birds and to monitor them better.

We often found the small parrots in fruit trees, especially in guavas. They arranged some real concerts with their chirping.

The fatal vultures´ (Coragyps atratus) look is a little bit frightening, especially when they appear in large groups. They live not only on carrion, but also on fruits and they are a danger for the fresh slipped sea turtles. You could find them particularly en masse in cities and open landscapes.

We have taken all photos in Guanacaste, Sámara, and in the immediate surrounding or at our hotel in Costa Rica itself.

Notes: This travel report and the accompanying pictures are only a representation of our personal experiences in Costa Rica. All these information supplied without liability concerning completeness and correctness.

(Text by Marie Berensen Schuldhardt, Fotos Blanca )


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Our photos concerning our travel report of Costa Rica