Costa Rica is the home of a large variety of plants and animals, which makes it a great vacation destination for the wildlife enthusiast. The country only consists of about .1% of the world’s landmass, but it has 5% of the world’s biodiversity. About 25% of Costa Rica’s land consists of protected national parks and other protected areas, and has the biggest percentage of protected area in the world.
One of its national parks is known all over the world by ecologists for its biodiversity. It is Corcovado National Park and visitors can certainly see a wide variety of wildlife at this location. This is the only park in the country where all four Costa Rican monkey species dwell. The four monkeys are: the White-headed Capuchin, the Mantled Howler, the endangered Geoffroy’s Spider Monkey, and the Central American Squirrel Monkey.
Tortugeuero National Park contains spider, howler, and white throat monkeys, three-toed sloths, two-toed sloths, 320 bird species, and many different reptiles. This park is the location of the largest annual nesting site of the endangered green turtle. Also, the park is the site for the nesting of leatherback, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles.
Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve contains about 2,000 plant species that include many orchids. More than 400 bird species and over 100 mammal species are located there as well. Overall, about 800 species of birds have been discovered in Costa Rica. And, if this isn’t enough, Costa Rica is a mecca of reptile and amphibian diversity and includes the world’s fastest running lizard, the spiny-tailed iguana.