Playa Guacalillo (Guacalillo Beach), Playa Tarcoles (Tarcoles Beach) and Playa Azul (Blue Beach) located in Puntarenas in the Central Pacific of Costa Rica show the evidence every day of what is happening in Costa Rica when it comes to river contamination; the Tárcoles river mouth brings to these beaches all the trash that it carries straight from San Jose. The Tárcoles River also called “Grand...

AUSTRALIA CLIMATE CHANGE Australia's oceans. Sydney, Sept. 27 — As climate change leads to the warming and acidification of water, the males of a marine crustacean species in Australia will become more attractive to the females of that species, according to a study published Tuesday. A group of researchers studied the behavior of the herbivorous amphipod, Cymadusa pemptos, that inhabit the...

By Wendy Anders The recent rainy conditions that are typical at this time of year in Costa Rica are propitious for crocodiles to enter into the sea from swollen river mouths, reported Teletica, Costa Rica’s Channel 7 TV. Rainy conditions encourage the animals to mate, said Adrian Arce, ranger at the Central Pacific Conservation Area, to Teletica. During mating, larger male crocodiles disp...

The Costa Rican zoo Simón Bolívar has been surrounded by controversy for some years now, this zoo was created in 1916, initially as a botanical garden and as of 1921 also as a zoo, it’s the oldest zoo in Costa Rica and it's located in downtown San Jose. In one hundred years a lot has changed, and although this park has served as a home for many injured and rescued animals many activists claim that...

Costa Rica is known globally for its biodiversity, the natural and raw beauty contained in its small territory has attracted tourists, scientists, photographers, etc. However, and as much as Costa Rica continues to have vibrant nature and much of its territory is protected, it is not exempt of threats; contamination, logging, illegal hunting etc. activities which jeopardize the future of many spec...

(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Forest fires raging in northeast Brazil are forcing indigenous people out of their traditional territories and threatening uncontacted tribes, an indigenous leader said on Wednesday. Fire season in the Amazon and surrounding Savannah normally lasts from July to November, but burning has become more intense due to climate change and illegal logging, said Sonia Gua...

  Hundreds of jaguar's teeth have been seized in Bolivia The trafficking of jaguar teeth from Bolivia's natural parks to China has sparked worries that Asian smugglers are boosting this illegal trade. Between 2014 and 2016, 800 jaguar teeth have been seized by Bolivian authorities, suggesting that around 200 animals have been killed, reported the Bolivian Environment Forum (Foro Bo...

TAMPA, FL,  Sept. 16 — A phosphate company says more than 200 million gallons of contaminated waste water from a fertilizer plant in central Florida, U.S. leaked into one of the state's main underground sources of drinking water after a massive sinkhole opened up beneath a storage pond. Mosaic, the world's largest supplier of phosphate, said the hole opened up beneath a pile of waste materi...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica Reventazon Hydroelectric Plant Costa Rican agencies are strengthening a biological corridor in southern Costa Rica critical to wildlife protection through increased forest-protection incentives for private landowners. The corridor is also known as the Jaguar Pass. In the wake of the recently inaugurated Reventazón Hydroelectric Project that may affect animals w...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Gas prices have jumped in six states across the Southeast after a pipeline leak in Alabama forced a shutdown that created major fuel shortages. Colonial Pipeline Company System Map. Image courtesy of Colonial Pipeline States of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia with prices jumping as m...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14— Leonardo DiCaprio joins protest of Dakota Access pipeline. Industry leaders said moving forward with the Dakota Access pipeline is central to keeping the U.S. shale oil sector a strong component of the national economy. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders participated in demonstrations in Washington, D.C., against the Dakota Access pipeline. "We cannot allow ...

Press Release- A new free online app created by the NGO’s Oceana and SkyTruth along with Google and partially funded by actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s eponymous foundation was presented at the US State Department’s Our Ocean 2016 conference. The Global Fishing Watch will allow everyone access to track commercial fishing activity worldwide. By providing the first free global view of commercial fishing*...

Last week Costa Rica’s achievement of running on green energy was all over the news. Today, the country gives another big step towards electric independence and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Today, September 16, 2016 Costa Rica inaugurated the biggest hydroelectric plant in Central America, the Reventazon megaproject began working three months before the expected time frame. This i...

We all feel it, here in Costa Rica the days are hotter, hotter than a year ago and way hotter than five or ten years back. According to the National Meteorological Institute (IMN in Spanish) Costa Rica registered during 2015 between 1.1° and 2.3° C higher than the average registered temperatures; in December of 2015 San Jose registered a temperature of 30.8°C (87.44°F) breaking the record for this...

In far southeastern Nicaragua, on the banks of the San Juan River, which forms the boundary with Costa Rica, is the Indio Maiz biological preserve, one of Central America's most important tropical rainforest areas where in recent years colonists have been moving in. Inhabited on 70 percent of its territory by the Rama and Kriol indigenous communities, the ancestral owners of the virgin jungle, ...

Sydney, Sep 8 (EFE).- Ten percent of the planet's untouched natural areas, around 3.3 million square km (1.27 million square miles), has disappeared in the last two decades, especially in the Amazon and central Africa, according to a study published in Australia Thursday. The study, led by James Watson of the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCS), and the University of Queensland, says since...

Quito, Ecuador A quick response can save your life if you are bitten by a poisonous snake. But in some remote areas of Ecuador people are 6 - 7 hours away from medical care, and that wait for snakebite victims is often fatal. In this tropical, Andean country, which imports snake anti-venom from Costa Rica and Colombia, an estimated 9,000 - 10,000 people are bitten by snakes per year, and...

By Wendy Ander Listed as Endangered since 1990, the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is now listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the group that assesses and catalogues plants and animals facing a high risk of global extinction. In a recent update of their Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN says the Giant Panda’s population has grown...

By Wendy Anders Japan yesterday opened its 'scientific whaling' season on the north coast of country, during which it expects to capture 51 minke whales, said the Japanese Fisheries Agency to the Spanish newswire EFE. The season will end late October in the North Pacific, and it’s stated aim is to help manage maritime resources based on an analysis of the stomach contents of captured whales. ...

The best time to visit the Caribbean Coast September and October are very rainy months in Costa Rica, the former is true for the Central Valley and the Pacific coast, but did you know these months are also the best time of the year, weather wise, to visit the Atlantic coast? The Southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is not the most popular destination for tourists, perhaps this is because y...

By Wendy Anders During the upcoming two weekends, visitors can take part in whale and dolphin watching tours, as well as recreational and cultural activities, during the southern Pacific Bahía Ballena Marine Park's annual whale and dolphin festival. From Sept 2-4 and again from Sept 9-11 visitors can participate in activities such as foot races, cycling, family walks, a sand sculpture contes...

An electrical storm has caused the deaths of 323 reindeer living in a national park in southern Norway, authorities announced Monday. The animals' corpses were found Friday night by a ranger at Hardangervidda National Park in a small area with a diameter of between 50 and 80 meters (164 and 262 feet). "It is something very unique. I've heard of cattle killed by lightning before, but never in...

The Broader View network for volunteering overseas recently announced updates to is Costa Rica sea turtle conservation program, which takes place in the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Following are details from the press release: Are you interested in volunteering with wild life? If so, why not become a Costa Rica Sea Turtle Volunteer? This opportunity gives you a chance to experience sea tur...

Imagine tiny bubbles of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — rising from the ocean floor, escaping into the atmosphere, playing havoc in heating up the planet and contributing to global warming and climate change. Yet certain rocks on the depths of the ocean floor host an interesting microbiological community, where microscopic organisms, or microbes, actually eat escaping methane to acquire energ...

By Wendy Anders  With no end in sight to Guanacaste's ongoing potable water shortages as wells throughout the region face very low levels, some businesses and also the government are turning to sea-water processing as an alternative. Last month, Reserva Conchal hotel inaugurated the first desalination plant in Costa Rica which produces 23 liters of potable water per second by processing ocea...

By Mariluz Parga and Sandra Andraka, International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Incidental capture of sea turtles is a well-known impact of longline and other fisheries worldwide and one of several significant causes of the decrease in sea turtle populations. While effective alternatives to reduce incidental capture are studied and put in place, identifying methods to increase an animal’s ...

By Wendy Anders Police on duty in Limón on Costa Rica’s Atlantic coast may feel more like environmentalists than public safety workers lately. Since leatherback sea turtle eggs they have held in a protected area started hatching a few days ago, the officials have been busy getting the hatchlings to the beach in the evening and night hours for their entry into the sea, reported the Ministry o...

By Wendy Anders Yesterday, on National Parks Day, President Luis Guillermo Solís met with park guards on a visit to Tenorio Volcano National Park in the northern Guanacaste mountain range. Tenorio National Park is where Costa Rica's enchanting Río Celeste, or Blue River, is located. Park rangers had been threatening to close one or more national parks if their repeated requests for increa...

Source: The Sloth Institute Costa Rica, August 20, 2016– Join the Toucan Rescue Ranch (TRR) in raising funds for our rescued adult and orphaned sloths! This fundraiser is to help us raise money to build a sloth pre-release enclosure at our release site in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica. The funds raised will allow us to release orphaned and rehabilitated sloths admitted to our rescue center. We need...

Zoo Ave ROCK HILL, South Carolina, August 22, 2016 – 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced today that its digital manufacturing solutions played a crucial role in the rehabilitation of Grecia, a toucan in Costa Rica that lost the majority of its upper beak as the victim of a senseless act of cruelty. The attack on Grecia not only left the toucan unable to feed and fend for itself, but it sparked ...

Source: MSP A young colt that was about to become a meal for hungry caimans is happily galloping today thanks to a daring rescue by Border Police officers in Costa Rica. Earlier this week, a Border Police aquatic unit was navigating the Agua Dulce bayou of the Colorado River, located in the northern Caribbean region of Costa Rica, when they noticed a group of caimans paying close attention ...

Pixabay Commons ST. LOUIS (August 12, 2016) – The U.S. soybean industry is a multi-faceted, global business, and 10 U.S. soybean farmers just got a closer look at how their soy checkoff works in that marketplace to all U.S. soybean farmers’ benefit. Sponsored by the United Soybean Board’s Audit and Evaluation (A&E) Committee, the See for Yourselfprogram connected these farmers with their c...

When it comes to tourism, birdwatchers are often regarded as the nicest visitors Costa Rica can hope to attract. Birdwatchers like the abundant avian biodiversity of Costa Rica, and our country enjoys the fact that these tourists tend to be well-educated, generous spenders who are respectful of nature and enjoy longer stays. Central America is teeming with colorful birds, and thus other nations...

Photo: Sam Trull The death of a female sloth that gained international attention after being featured in documentary films was recently reported in Costa Rica. The documentaries were produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as well as by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) of the United States. The following press release was issued by the Sloth Institute, located within the...

U.S drillship Joides Resolution The effects of earthquakes are often severe and highly visible. They can destroy homes, induce slope failures and trigger tsunamis. The main cause for earthquakes are the stresses that occur in the Earth's interior, when two tectonic plates pass each other and interlock during this process. But even the worst earthquake starts with a very small first crack in th...

Wikimedia Commons Red Cross volunteers searching for a drowned young tourist from the United States were led to discovery by a jaguarundi (eyra cat, similar to a mountain lion), which seemed to be guarding the deceased child. As reported by The Costa Rica Star earlier this week, a flash flood swept away three U.S. tourists swimming in the Blanco river in the Rincon de la Vieja (Old Woman's ...

By Evelyn S. Gonzalez, Florida International University Amphibians that can tolerate higher temperatures are likely to fare better against disease, habitat loss and climate change, according to researchers. FIU biologist Maureen Donnelly contributed to two studies on the ability of frogs and amphibians to survive challenges brought on by a changing planet — challenges she said could lead to ex...

Sunken coral islands, floating rainforests, giant undersea volcanoes or even spires of rock resembling sunken cities: none of these sites can be inscribed on the World Heritage List because they are found in the High Seas, outside of any national jurisdiction. A report launched today by UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) explores the different ...

By Wendy Anders Whales have started arriving to the waters off the southern Costa Rican Pacific coast for this year’s second whale-watching season Look for special activities such as festivals, whale watching tours, and other local activities on the southern Pacific coast during August and September. The National Ballena Marina Park, Playa Dominical, Dominicalito, Bajo Negro and other bea...

Source: UNLV By Greg Lacour Mario Verduzco knew only a couple of things as he flew to Costa Rica in January for a four-month study-abroad/internship experience: He’d be working at a recycling center, and the owners had a project for him. The project turned out to be one of the most challenging experiences of the Las Vegas native and electrical engineering junior’s life. It wasn’t so much...