The immense
biodiversity of Costa Rica was the main reason for our visit to it. Costa Rica
is a country in the Central American region, with a population of about 5
million, occupying an area of about 51 thousand square kilometers. In
comparison to the state of California, it is about one-eighth both in the area
and population. Although Costa Rica is a small fraction, less than one percent of
the world, it claims twenty percent of its biodiversity. Moreover, it attracts so
many tourists that tourism has become the main contributor to the GDP of Costa
Rica. During our visit
to Costa Rica, we visited a few places known for their culture and diversity,
starting from its capital San Jose. These are the things that we experienced
for the first time. On the Frogs
Sloths Park trail at La Fortuna, our guide pointed to the bottom of a tree,
where we saw a tiny red frog. The tour guide told us that it was a Blue-jeans
Frog. On closer looks, we saw the blue legs. These are one of Costa Rica's most
colorful and iconic amphibians. These are so small that we
could have missed them easily had our guide not pointed to them. Locally, these
are called the blue jeans poison dart frog or the strawberry poison arrow frog. There is a sharp contrast of colors
between the body and hind legs. Generally, we see a continuity of colors along
the body and limbs for all other creatures; blue-jean frogs seem to be an
exception. At the Frogs Sloths Park, Costa Rica, our guide showed a
lizard sitting on a branch inside the bush. This lizard is called a common basilisk.
A male basilisk can be differentiated from a female as it has a crest on its
head. In mythology, it is described as made up of parts of a rooster, snake, and lion,
which could turn a man to stone by its gaze. Therefore, it is also
called the Jesus Christ lizard. We also saw a
female basilisk while taking the nature tour around our resort at Tambor. It
was sitting on a log that had fallen into the river. We observed that its legs were
wet while its body was dry. When disturbed, we saw it lunge over the water and
reach the other river bank. We saw the lizard walking over the water for the
first time. This lizard is known to walk over the water for a few meters.
Incidentally, it reminded us of our playing near the ponds when we were young.
We used to throw a stone in the pond so that it would get rebounded from the
water's surface and land somewhere else after a hop. We used to try hard to
throw in a way such that it bounces with two hops. We assume the lizard uses
the bounce-back to walk over the water. When we reached the
Tambor resort, we got a room at the edge of the property. Behind our room,
there were dense trees. At the top of those trees, we saw a group of howler
monkeys. They stay in a small
group led by an alpha male. The alpha male makes a loud sound or 'howls' to
warn another group to stay away. We were lucky to hear one howling sound. They
eat berries and fruits from the top of the trees by hanging upside down using
their tails. As the branches on the top are tender, they use higher branches of
the nearby tree. Sloths are animals
that hang upside down on a tree branch. They look like monkeys, but they belong
to the class of armadillos. These are very slow-moving animals and spend most
of their life hanging upside down. Even their babies are born to hang upside
down. There are two
types of sloths, either with two or three fingers. The three-finger one often
sits upright on the fork of a tree branch. They perform all functions of life hanging
upside down. For example, they sleep while hanging and have been observed
hanging even after death. However, to empty their stomach, they come down once
a week and can lose up to one-third of their body weight. Otherwise, they
hardly move during the week, and even algae can grow in their furs. The algae are
found to help cure cancers. Most bees belong
to a group that makes a beehive together. However, some bees do not belong to
any beehive. For such a solitary bee, a Bees Hotel provides shelter. It is a habitat
for solitary bees. At the beginning of Hanging Bridges Park, we saw one of the Bees'
hotels. Generally, we
see the beehive on the trees. We know that some trees have hollow trunks. However,
it is surprising that bees also know about it. We saw a beehive's location
hidden inside a tree's trunk. The bees have created a connecting pipe to the
beehive. We could see the bees coming in and out of these pipes. We had a group
tour of a small bird sanctuary adjacent to our resort at Tambor. It was created
to revive the population of scarlet macaws by rebreeding, which has become
endangered. It has a few other birds also, including a peacock. After finishing
the sanctuary tour, we had free time. So, I returned to the sanctuary to look
closely at the birds. I was alone in the sanctuary. As soon as l reached the
peacock cage, it started dancing. The peacock performed an exclusive show for
me, and I was thrilled. Soon, I realized that there were two peahens there. The
show was for them. We visited one of the sanctuaries
close to our resort, where we could see macaws of three colors. Macaws are colorful
long-tailed parrots of a group known as the New World parrots. We saw scarlet,
blue, and green macaws during our visit to the sanctuary. Scarlet macaws were on the brink
of becoming extinct in Costa Rica. So this sanctuary was started to restore
their population. Iguanas are giant lizards found
in Central America. In Costa Rica, Iguanas can be seen almost anywhere, even in
the streets, shops, rooftops, etc. People are not scared of iguanas,
and they roam freely in the streets. In the resort where we stayed, there were
many walking around. After breakfast, they came inside the restaurant. They
finished the leftover food. Bioluminescence is the light
produced by a chemical reaction in the body of a few living organisms. There is
a type of bacteria found in the Pacific seawater. Near our resort was a beach
from where we could see the bioluminescence. On the same beach, we have seen a
mesmerizing sunrise in the morning. In the evening, after the sunset,
it was pitch dark. Bioluminescence is visible when it is very dark at night in
places far away from city lights. Fortunately, it was a new moon-dark night.
After taking the
boat into the middle of the sea, our guide jumped into the water and started
swimming. We can see a distinct bluish glow around moving along the body. We
could see the glows moving with his hand motion whenever he moved his hands. We
splashed the water with our hands and could see tiny stars sparkle. The sparkle
appears as the bacteria in the water get oxygen whenever we move our hands.
These bacteria have the chemical luciferin. It is the same chemical that we
find in fireflies or some types of jellyfish. When luciferin reacts with
oxygen, it produces light that we see as a glow. Here you can see more photos of flora and fauna of
Costa Rica Costa Rica
Blue-jeans frogs
Water-walking lizard
Howler monkeys
Tree hanging Sloths
Bees Hotel and hidden beehives
Dancing Peacock
Macaws
Iguanas
Bioluminescence
