The Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
OK! Days like today just do not happen! Our second day in Costa Rica turned out to be a National Geographic Documentary!! We disembarked bright and early onto the shore of the best piece of tropical wet forest that remains in the Central American Isthmus. With an area of 42,000 hectares, Corcovado National Park is a naturalist’s paradise. Containing 6000 species of insects, 367 birds, 140 mammals, 117 reptiles and amphibians, and more than 500 species of trees, this wonderful park exceeded our expectations and rewarded us with the best day most of the naturalists have ever seen.
This morning we had the choice of four options: the long forest walk, the waterfall walk, the flat walk and the photographic walk. None of us could have imagined what Mother Nature had in store for us! Central American spider monkeys, mantled howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, boat billed herons, white-nosed coatis, three-toed sloth, and a snake! Could it get any better? The answer is yes!
After our morning hikes, our ship moved a bit further north and we went ashore to a privately owned preserve called Caletas. Van Van, the owner, welcomed us into his home, picnic tables, and barbecue area. Surprise! This is the beginning of the scarlet macaw’s breeding season: preening and playing and nipping and squawking and copulating, strengthening the bonds with few limits. Nevertheless, our encounter with the macaws took second place when our host came to say, “the monkeys are coming…”
The most assertive of the four non-human primate species in Costa Rica, white-throated capuchin monkeys are the quintessential example of a monkey. These animals live in groups with an average size of 16 individuals, where the females are all related to each other. The troop that visited our picnic area granted us, and our cameras, with behaviors not seen every day. They groomed, played, threatened us with shaking boughs, jumped from branch to branch, or simply rested on one, and an adult individual even hopped on a table and stole a brownie! But the prize of the day was a young female carrying an even younger infant not more than a month and a half old! (Today’s photo) Why do primates fascinate us so? Is it because they remind us so much of ourselves? Someone did say, “Man, however well behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved.”
We can’t wait for tomorrow, but have we been spoiled for good?
OK! Days like today just do not happen! Our second day in Costa Rica turned out to be a National Geographic Documentary!! We disembarked bright and early onto the shore of the best piece of tropical wet forest that remains in the Central American Isthmus. With an area of 42,000 hectares, Corcovado National Park is a naturalist’s paradise. Containing 6000 species of insects, 367 birds, 140 mammals, 117 reptiles and amphibians, and more than 500 species of trees, this wonderful park exceeded our expectations and rewarded us with the best day most of the naturalists have ever seen.
This morning we had the choice of four options: the long forest walk, the waterfall walk, the flat walk and the photographic walk. None of us could have imagined what Mother Nature had in store for us! Central American spider monkeys, mantled howler monkeys, scarlet macaws, boat billed herons, white-nosed coatis, three-toed sloth, and a snake! Could it get any better? The answer is yes!
After our morning hikes, our ship moved a bit further north and we went ashore to a privately owned preserve called Caletas. Van Van, the owner, welcomed us into his home, picnic tables, and barbecue area. Surprise! This is the beginning of the scarlet macaw’s breeding season: preening and playing and nipping and squawking and copulating, strengthening the bonds with few limits. Nevertheless, our encounter with the macaws took second place when our host came to say, “the monkeys are coming…”
The most assertive of the four non-human primate species in Costa Rica, white-throated capuchin monkeys are the quintessential example of a monkey. These animals live in groups with an average size of 16 individuals, where the females are all related to each other. The troop that visited our picnic area granted us, and our cameras, with behaviors not seen every day. They groomed, played, threatened us with shaking boughs, jumped from branch to branch, or simply rested on one, and an adult individual even hopped on a table and stole a brownie! But the prize of the day was a young female carrying an even younger infant not more than a month and a half old! (Today’s photo) Why do primates fascinate us so? Is it because they remind us so much of ourselves? Someone did say, “Man, however well behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved.”
We can’t wait for tomorrow, but have we been spoiled for good?
