Costa Rica Wildlife

One of the reasons we chose Costa Rica for our honeymoon was that we both hadn’t been there before, and there was so much about Costa Rica that was totally foreign to us both. The major difference, besides the climate, was the incredible wildlife.

Read about part 1, part 2, and part 3 of our trip!

We saw the most wildlife in Manuel Antonio Park, but there were interesting animals and plans in all three regions we visited. I wanted to share some of my photo highlights from the favorites we saw!

A juvenile pit viper in Arenal National Park. Incredibly venomous, we stayed far away and used the zoom lens.

A howler monkey, doing his thing.

MudMud bird

The incredible leaf-cutter ant.

HUGE crocodiles we saw on our way from Tamarindo to Manuel Antonio. That’s a truck tire, for scale. There were dozens of them, and those were only the ones we could see from our safe perch above them on a bridge.

Red-Eyed Tree Frog during our Arenal night hike.

Not exactly wildlife, but this Manuel Antonio puppy and Tamarindo cat both had the most amazing eye colors.

Macaw in the Gaia Refuge

Howler Monkey. Their dark fur and eyes can make it hard to differentiate their facial features, but this you can see clearly.

A two-toed sloth heads up the tree.

The whiteface, or capuchin, monkeys in Manuel Antonio were pretty comfortable with people. They were never close enough to touch (forbidden, anyway) but still curious. They used to be afraid of cameras years ago when they were hunted, but they are now strictly protected and therefore aren’t afraid that the cameras might be weapons.

Piggyback from Mommy, Capuchin Monkeys

A tent bat. They’re blind, and they hide on the underside inside of leaves and make tents out of their wings to rest. This guy was either just waking up or just settling in (probably the former).

A three-toed sloth checks out the scene (way) below his tree. They sleep 22 hours a day, and only come down from the trees once every 8–10 days to poop. Otherwise, they sleep in the trees and eat the leaves surrounding them.