Two top U.S. biology research scientists are coming to Costa Rica in early March to lead a study trip deep in the Costa Rican rainforest on the south Pacific Coast of the Golfo Dulce. The scientific tour will be held March 1-7, 2014, at Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge, a member of Enchanting Hotels & Resorts Costa Rica. Drs. Howard Topoff and Carol Simon of Arizona – both professors emeriti of T...

The shores of Costa Rica's Gold Coast are home to the occasional stranding of marine mammals, but these sporadic situations could result in massive beaching events unless human oceanic activity is conducted in a way that minimizes underwater noise pollution. Such was the message delivered by oceanographer and cross-discipline scientist Melania Guerra Carrillo at a recent presentation on bioacousti...

A business consortium in Guanacaste will be keeping a close eye on arboreal wildlife with a network of eight cameras that will monitor animals as they negotiate the forest canopy and high tension power lines. Coopeguanacaste, a major electrical utility company in the Santa Cruz canton, recently installed new devices on portions of their power infrastructure to discourage monkeys, coatis, sloths, k...

Biology students hit the field in Costa Rica Educating future scientists these days calls for more than just academic training and laboratory experiments. Working in the field and interacting with the public as well as with members of other disciplines have become crucial skills for scientists who wish to find success in their chosen fields of inquiry. To this end, the Organization for Tropica...

Trogon elegans bird in Guanacaste Costa Rica One of the most endearing and emblematic birds of Guanacaste is the Trogon elegans, also known as bobo, momoto, cejiceleste, and others. The Trogon elegans is among the most attractive species of the Trogonidae family, which can be found from the Southwestern United States to the northern region of Costa Rica. This magnificent bird has been the focu...

Microclimates converge throughout regions of Costa Rica Among all the factors that contribute to Costa Rica's amazing biodiversity, its abundance of microclimates and variety of unusual seasons are among the most important. The heterogeneously distributed topography of the country also contributes to the climatic diversity, which makes some regions feel as if they were located in different cou...

If bird-watching is your passion, then you definitely want to add Costa Rica to your “Top 10 list of places to go birding.” The small Central American country is home to more than 870 bird species – more than in all of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined – and is a bird-watching hotspot. A single day of bird-watching in this enchanted corner of the globe can earn sightings of up to 85 to...

Sandwiched between North and South America and two oceans, Costa Rica is an amazing bridge of biodiversity bursting with natural wonders. For such a small country, it is home to more than 500,000 species; 250 of which are mammals. Costa Rica’s south Pacific region of Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) is one of the most intense zones for plants and animals. Surrounded by the Corcovado National Park, Pied...

Bats have a bad reputation: most people think of blood and vampires, thanks to Hollywood. The truth is, however, that bats provide valuable environmental services such as pest control, spreading seeds and pollinating plants. Of the approximate 1,100 bat species on Earth, 112 of them are found in Costa Rica. Four of Costa Rica’s national parks have been declared as important areas for the conser...

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle One of the most recognized names in oceanography and marine life conservation is coming to Costa Rica as part of Mission Blue, a significant expedition that serves as an ocean community's effort to elevate public awareness about critical ocean issues and inspiring support for organizations, projects and scientific expeditions that make a positive difference for the o...

File photo, Embassy of Japan Mamoru Shinohara, Ambassador of Japan to Costa Rica, has been quite busy lately. As reported by the Costa Rica Star in November, the government of Japan is working on a special clean energy project in Guanacaste. More recently, Ambassador Shinohara presented the keys of 45 vehicles to be used by rangers, firefighters and scientific researchers at our National Parks...

The Orosi Earthquake Cluster Residents and tourists in the Cobano coastal community of Puntarenas were recently enjoying a pleasant, sunny afternoon when they were suddenly shaken by a strong earthquake that was felt across Costa Rica. It was hardly the first seismic event of 2014, but it was a strong enough reminder about what might be in store for this year. The epicenter of the January 1...

Photograph taken by Shannon Enete Most people aren’t huge fans of spiders, but the golden orb, is the exception to the rule. After researching this spider, I can see how they would make a spiderman super hero. The golden orbs produce the largest and strongest webs. During your visit to Costa Rica, be sure to look out for the gorgeous eight-legged creatures.  Not only are they impressive looking...

Sputnik, the original tiny satellite The offices of President Laura Chinchilla announced this week that the nation would launch its first satellite in 2016. Asked what the mini-satellite was good for, Carlos Alvarado, chief of the Central American Aeronautics and Space Association said candidly that "it will show we can do it." Actually, weighing in at less than 10 kilos (about 25 lbs) there's...

Just 30 minutes from the Daniel Oduber International Airport and 217 kilometers northeast of San José, the Gulf of Papagayo Tourism Pole (PTGP) offers white sandy beaches and lush tropical settings, with a wide variety of activities for nature-loving tourists. “The bay is rich in marine species due to the abundance of plankton in its waters, which develops in the mangroves in the area,” said Ja...

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle The Ostional Wildlife Refuge, located in Guanacaste, is the only place in Costa Rica (and perhaps in the world) where sea turtle eggs can be legally harvested by the community. This is authorized by Public Law 7064 of 1987, specifically article 55, which establishes a collection quota and allows the sale of eggs laid by Lepidochelys olivacea. Although this law creates a...

Located in the northern Caribbean region of Costa Rica, the Tortuguero National Park is home to one of the most docile, timid and elusive aquatic mammals. Trichechus manatus, also known as Antillean sea cows or manatees, once sought refuge exclusively in the canals of Tortuguero, but decades of protection have encouraged them to swim north to Barra del Colorado and even all the way south to Puerto...

Marine biologists who study cetaceans and fans of aquatic mammals in general know that Costa Rica is blessed with an incredible abundance of these creatures. As a result, scientists, photographers and filmmakers often visit our coasts. This time, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) went undercover and underwater with Spy Tuna, a robotic camera device that captures unprecedented footage of m...

Leo and Stefan Proster. Source: VisionsWald.de In the mountainous northern region of Costa Rica, a German-Austrian father and son team are leading a reforestation project that will not only benefit the ecosystem and biodiversity of the land but also yield handsome profits. This project, however, is far from being a “get rich overnight” scheme. It may take a couple of decades to reap financial ...

The holiday season in Costa Rica makes biologists and taxonomists very happy. This is the time when scientists and volunteers hit the field to conduct the traditional Christmas species count. Since Costa Rica is known for her rich biodiversity, each count is an opportunity to run into a rare species or even begin an investigation into a new organism for proper classification. As previously repo...

Typha domingensi "Tifa" plant in Guanacaste Costa RicaThe forest fire season in Costa Rica will officially begin on January 15, but an early wildfire in Guanacaste recently served as a grim reminder that the hot, non-rainy season spells danger for the driest region of the country. The fire occurred in the Coral de Piedra (Stone Coral) area, a protected wetland located in the Nicoya canton. Firefi...

Earlier this month, more than 250 firefighters from five Latin American nations concluded a major training exercise in Ciudad de los Ninos (City of Children), province of Cartago. This exercise was very timely for Costa Rica, a country that is expecting a high risk of wildfires due to increased human activity in nature reserves and farmlands, climate change, and overall carelessness. This multi...

Source: Nature A recent study published in the respected scientific journal Nature has been covered by some news media outlets as a prediction of an earthquake that rattled Guanacaste and all of Costa Rica in 2012. The September 5th earthquake will always be remembered as a significant event with regard to earthquake preparedness and anticipation, but it is important to note the difference bet...

A widely held assumption about the use of pesticides in the agricultural industry in Costa Rica puts our country at the top of lists that rank nations by how much they use agrochemical pesticides. At 51.2 kg of pesticide used per hectare of farmland, hospitals in Costa Rica should be filled with patients languishing from poisoning and cancer. Somehow, this is not the case. How come? The two mos...

Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula is renowned by scientists, explorers and nature lovers as an astounding paradise of biological diversity. The southern Pacific Ocean off the Osa Peninsula is natural wonder of marine life, home to more than 25 species of dolphins and whales, four of the world’s eight different sea turtles, along with manta rays, sailfish, marlin, tuna and sharks. The southern Pacific, an...

Christmas is a special time of year for birders. Equipped with binoculars, bird guides and checklists, avid birders throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, rain, or maybe even tropical sun, to take part in the 2013 Christmas Bird Count. The longest running “Citizen Science survey” in the world, the annual Christmas Bird Count provides critical data on bird population trends. The National Audubon...

A tiny and pesky insect is wreaking havoc in banana plantations across Costa Rica. Producers, exporters and government officials are keeping a close eye on the widespread plague of cochineal insects that enjoy sucking on recently sprouted banana leaves before they move on to the fruit. The cochineal bugs do not actually get to the banana flesh itself; however, they leave unsightly black stains on ...

A joint project between a division of the Ad Astra Rocket Company in Liberia and the government-owned Petroleum Refinery of Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: RECOPE) aims to generate and store hydrogen fuel to be used by the transportation sector. This hydrogen plant was recently unveiled in Guanacaste, a province that is leading the way in clean energy projects and sustainability. According to an o...

Update: Portions of this article have been removed on behalf of a party involved, due to being inaccurate. The remainder of the article will stay intact as the original. Witnessing a monkey electrocuted by un-insulated power lines or transformers is a very disturbing, yet an all too common sight in Playa del Coco and surrounding beach communities. As many well know, the Coco area is a natural ...

Source: MAG The city of Canas in the province of Guanacaste is now home to the first research station in Costa Rica that is dedicated to studying the effects of climate change on soil and regional agriculture. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Affairs (Spanish acronym: MAG), this research station is the first of its kind in Costa Rica, Central America and the Caribbean. ...

Costa Rican Expat, Cammy Enete, touches the smooth outer-layer of the majestic rainbow eucalyptus The giant evergreen displays of artistic color span across Costa Rica. So why hasn’t anyone heard of them? Eucalyptus deglupta, more commonly known as rainbow eucalyptus is a rapid growing tropical tree. Gazing at their trunks would lend you to think an entire kindergarden class equipped with cray...

Poas Volcano crater in Costa RicaRecent volcanic activity along with sulphuric emissions and the heavy presence of noxious gases are prompting national park rangers in Costa Rica to take precautions with regard to visitors. Volcano tourism is very popular in Costa Rica during this season, and some of the most-visited volcanoes are certainly showing off their natural beauty, but officials are cont...

If you live in Guanacaste, or just about anywhere else in Costa Rica, you may be familiar with the following situation: You have already turned off the lights in your bedroom and sleep is about to consume you when suddenly you hear TCHAK-TCHAK-TCHAK, or a permutation thereof. That would be an adult male gecko invading your bedroom; a younger female will sound more like chip-chip-chip. What should ...

Source: Santa Elena Project The late environmentalist Jairo Mora was certainly one of the most celebrated and important persons in Costa Rica in 2013. His commitment to the protection of sea turtles in the Caribbean coast ended up claiming his life and left many people wondering what makes the Caribbean region of Costa Rica so different from Playa Rajada and Playa Ostional in Guanacaste, two p...

They are magnificent, geometrically acute and mystifying. They are the stone spheres of Costa Rica, majestic objects patiently created by the indigenous ancestors to the boruca people who call the Osa region their home, precisely the districts of Cortes, Palmar and Sierpe in the province of Puntarenas. Just a few days ago, the Ministry of Culture in Costa Rica announced that Costa Rica's beloved s...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A long and comprehensive research study which has been conducted for nearly two decades confirms that sharks indeed return to the place they were born in order to give birth. The paper for this research was recently published by the Molecular Ecology scientific journal and has been acknowledged by members of Mision Tiburon (Shark Mission), a non-profit dedicated to th...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A recent study indicates that a wading bird's appetite for the hatchlings and freshly-laid eggs of sea turtles presents an interesting situation of interference competition in which nature conservation activists and local protectors of marine life in Costa Rica are choosing one wildlife species over another. The species in question are the beloved olive ridley sea tur...

David Garcia for Mision Tiburon Are you a certified scuba diver planning to be in Costa Rica in December? How would you like to be an active participant in a selachian tagging project to augment the marine conservation efforts of Mision Tiburon (Shark Mission), a non-profit organization that works hard to protect the elasmobranch resources of Costa Rica? This may be your chance to get very clo...

At a recent public hearing before Costa Rica's Constitutional Court, colloquially known as Sala IV, environmental activists and their legal representatives presented evidence to support their claims against RIU Hotels, a major international resort chain owned by a powerful Spanish consortium that includes Mexican and German investors. According to the plaintiffs, the RIU hotel at Matapalo Beach en...

When is a species really extinct? The recent rediscovery of a colorful frog in the southwestern region of Costa Rica and the potential return of sea turtle to nest in Guanacaste and other beaches along the Pacific coastline is calling attention to the methods of determining when a wildlife species has truly disappeared from our planet. Lazarus species is the term sometimes used to refer to a sp...