Biodiversity in Costa Rica
Parts of Costa Rica are still virtually unexplored, and it is not uncommon to read a news story about some previously undiscovered member of the animal or plant kingdom which has been found here. But here is a partial list of what we know:
-- 1,500 species of orchids. including La Guaria Morada, the national flower, and over 200 species of bromeliads
-- over 9,000 identified species of vascular plants, including over 900 different species of trees
-- over 850 species of birds, including over 50 species of hummingbirds, 15 parrots (including the scarlet macaw,) six toucan species, and, of course, the resplendent quetzal, with its shimmering green plumage, scarlet belly, white tail feathers and green tail coverts that trail over 60 cm (2 ft) behind its body
-- over 200 mammal species, ranging from the four types of monkeys and two types of sloths which observant visitors to the National Parks and other protected areas are almost certain to see, to rainforest animals such as jaguars and tapirs which are almost never seen, but whose tracks are regularly seen in the more remote, larger expanses of undisturbed forest (also many varieties of snakes which, more fortunately, are also rarely seen)
-- 10% of the world's butterfly species, including the breathtaking blue morpho, with its 15 cm (6 inch) wingspan and electric blue upper wings.
-- roughly 150 species of amphibians: tree frogs which spend their entire lives above the forest floor, breeding in the water of tank bromeliads or in holes in the trunks of trees; the exuberantly colored poison-arrow frogs, over 200 species of reptiles, over half of them snakes (rarely encountered, even by those looking for them), plus an amazing array of lizards.
-- 14 turtle species include both marine and freshwater varieties. The largest of the marine turtles are leatherbacks. Their shells are up to a metre and a half (5 feet) and they weigh upwards of 360 kg (800 lb)! Marine turtles climb up sandy beaches to lay their eggs, a spectacular sight because it happens en masse. Olive ridleys nest synchronously -- tens of thousands of females sometimes emerge from the sea in a single night.
Such a wide variety of plant and animal life is made possible by the fact that, despite its small size, Costa Rica has a variety of habitats: rain forest, dry forest, cloud forest, oak forest, mountains, and wetland, mangrove, and other aquatic habitats.