5 Exotic animals you'll see in Costa Rica

Most people think about beaches with hearing “Costa Rica”, but our fortress of nature has a lot more to offer, amongst these are animal species rare outside our borders.

Once a close friend told me it seemed that Costa Rica paid the animals to interact with tourists because in no other country he’d seen friendlier wildlife.

Sloths

One of the cutest animals in the world, no one can resist the urge to hug them.

They’re arboreal mammals part of the anteaters family, meaning they eat only leaves, tender buds and shoots. It’s a species you’ll find in South America and some Asian places. But in Costa Rica you can feed and interact with them if you visit the Sloth Sanctuary in Puerto Viejo, Limón.

It is known their fur is an ecosystem by itself, housing beetles and moths which help their nutrition.

If you come to Costa Rica and plan to go to the Caribbean, don’t miss out taking a tour to see how sloths are rescued and kept.

Blue Jeans Frog

Or other known as Strawberry Poison frog, it’s a variety of amphibious you can only find in Costa Rica, and parts of Nicaragua and Panama. It lives in humid places like ponds and near plantations where it gets damp.

It has beautiful colors, red and blue although you can find some yellow and green with black spots. They’re very easy to spot within the green forest, and even more charming to photograph.

 

Toucan

This tropical and colorful bird is found in Central and South America, it is not rare to see them at the beach or hanging out near people in national parks. Toucans are friendly and intelligent omnivorous that learn how to get fruit and food from humans.

It’s long beak differentiates them from most birds around, used to reach inside tree-holes for insects and to eat fruits.

They have a weird sleeping pose that reminds of a feather ball, but it’s rare to find them in this position.

Baula Turtles

During most of the year you can watch turtles hatch either in Tortuguero (Caribbean) or in the Pacific (Guanacaste) It’s a dazzling event to watch life be born and fight for life.

Turtles have been protected for years in Costa Rica, but still there are people trying hard to save the eggs from thieves who sell them illegally.

In Costa Rica’s coasts you can watch plenty of turtles species lay their eggs, there are some tours to witness this beautiful spectacle that happens usually during dawn.

Capuchin Monkeys

Perhaps the smartest of this list and sometimes trained for shows, because of their fast learning ability.

This small furry pals live in the Caribbean. They tend to live in large groups and follow an alpha male or female, so if you spot one you might get lucky and see a group.

Capuchin monkeys like to prey on human groups to get food and appear in funny pictures, but don’t try to chase them. Because they can defend themselves.