CREATURES

Welcome to the world of animals and critters I loved seeing in Costa Rica.

All photos and collages by Joy Krauthammer ©

I call her Mango MONKEY. 

The river guide on our small rocking boat called her Blondie, the only golden monkey in Central America. An aberration (genetic mutation) and thrown out of the tribe at age of maturity, two, and later adopted by another tribe. Now 8 years, this very fast moving, berry-eating creature has a ten day old baby clinging to its body. First baby disappeared. Blondie is beautiful.

More HOWLER Mantled MONKEYS, Allouata palliata

I heard the roaring rumbling growl from the distance, early and late in the da.

SPIDER Monkeys who use their tale as a 5th hand and shake branches to be scary.

Tortuguero National Park, 47,000 acres, is known for Leather Back and Green sea TURTLE conservation, 

but these are smaller river turtles. 

I love saving turtles and swimming with turtles as in Hawaii, but not in these rivers of the National Park.

Aren't these guys adorable!

CROCS & CAIMANS

Mangrove reserve, Tarcoles River

First live CROCS I'd ever encountered. I stayed in the boat.

Being safe near these guys is not a croc. They are about 12 feet long and mean looking.

Why are rubber crocs called Crocs?

Costa Rica CROCODILES or are they Caimans?

Not cute underbelly!  /\

Cute underbelly!  \/

With an expensive new small powerful flashlight, I went out in the dark 

searching for this cute Red-Eyed Green Frog.

Tortuguero, Costa Rica

A Costa Rica Manoa hotel reception security guard showed me this palm-sized frog on the ground.

Found on the ground in the dark, this Bull Frog in Tortuguero.

These lovely Emerald Basilisk LIZARDS run between ground and trees, especially when crocs appear, or people.

 The body is about a foot long, and the thin stripped tail even longer. 

Sometimes I got close to them in a tree where they might sit hoping I'd go away.

Aren't these Costa Rican lizards amazing!

Similar but different Emerald Basilisk Lizard

EMERALD BASILISK LIZARD

Costa Rica

.

There were dozens of IGUANAS perched high in a tree.

Through a window on moving tall bus on higher road than the land below, I shot the iguanas.

Wish we could have stopped.

ANHINGA Bird

Tortuguero

More Costa Rica beautiful Water Birds

Cano Palma wildlife reserve's reflecting waters.

UR. UL. Anhinga

L. Northern Jacana.

BIRDS of Costa Rica

UR. Boat-billed Heron.

UL. Great Egret.

LL. LR. Snowy Egret and 300 bird species in Tortuguero.

LM. Tri-colored Heron.

MR. Willet.

MIgratory Birds, Rio Frio, runs through Cano Negro wildlife refuge.

Scarlet MACAW - Ara Macao

Blue and Yellow MACAW - Ara Ararauna

Blue and Yellow MACAWS

This is a bird I really wanted to see in the wild in Costa Rica.

PEACOCKS

Peacocks walk quickly out of camera range.

MONTEZUMA OROPENDOLA

builds a hanging woven nest of fibers and vines, high in a tree in Tortuguero.

One male for dozens of females who nest in tree.

 BUTTERFLIES / Mariposas at butterfly garden.

BUTTERFLY COCOON, chrysalis and emergence
UR. Monarch chrysalis.
These are several types of butterfly cocoons, even the brown ones have life inside.
Some looked like pearly colors.
They are removed from the leaves where found and pinned up to the stick.
(Locally at Wild Wings, I've seen them glued to holders.)

These BUGS were open-hand sized!
Are these what bit me?

Proboscis BATS - Rhynchonycteris naso (long or leaf nosed bats)

SLOTH
or IQUANA?
Truth is that I knew the sloth was in a tree and from very far, I saw a dark bulge and took the shot,
never knowing what Sloth looked like. Sloth is arboreal, tree dwelling.
Sloth and Anteater are related in the Pilosa family.  Hmm, think this is an Iquana.

GIANT ANTEATER
or is it a COATIMUNDI, a tropical raccoon?
I saw this fast guy when I came down from the Hanging Bridges when I was wandering alone.

I have had fun creating the collages using fonts
that I thought looked closer to the creatures than other fonts.
I used mostly green backgrounds because Costa Rica was so green.

All photos and collages by Joy Krauthammer ©

I have 1,300 photos to process (organize and edit) and will add more landscapes and scenes of Costa Rica.
Please return here for another visit and maybe I'll be finished.

To view more Costa Rica themes, i.e. Friends, Flowers, Scenes, Landscapes, Sunsets and Art, please click on OLDER POSTS on lower right side or on ARCHIVES on lower left.

~