Reptiles and Amphibians of Costa Rica Trip

For such a small country the biodiversity of Costa Rica is incredible. A Guardian article claims that 5% of the planet's biodiversity is to be found within its borders which only represent 0.1% of the world's land mass (http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/may/26/saturday.costarica). At the beginning of our trip we visited InBio Parque, run by the no-profit private Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad ( http://www.inbio.ac.cr/es/default.html). This visit gave us an idea of what lay ahead for us in terms of different species of plants and animals. In the photo above Pedro and Michael are taking a safe close-up view of a boa constrictor.

Costa Rica boasts approximately 100 different types of snakes. Our only sighting was this Green Vine Snake, or Bejuquillo, Oxybelis sp?. The one with poisonous saliva has a white underside and the harmless one has a yellow underside, but I didn't care to get any closer to find out. The students spotted it along the beach and we watched as it climbed into this beach vegetation where it will lie motionless until striking an unsuspecting mouse. The camoflage works very well. Would you know it was there if I didn't tell you?

Amphibians, like the Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates auratus) find Costa Rica's moist forests quite attractive, totaling 120 different species. This one was hanging out near a shady pond near our quarters in La Suerte, Limón province. Poison dart frogs pick up their toxic alkoloids by eating ants and termites off the forest floor. While humans should avoid handling them, they are harmless unless you have a cut, in which case an encounter could be a painful experience.

Andrea was able to get this cool photo of a male carrying a tadpole on its back! In one of the more amazing stories of the animal world, these "lower" vertebrates actually take special care of their young. The female lays between 2-5 eggs in a mini-puddle on some leaf and the male fertilizes them. Then HE will return and let the newly-hatched climb up on its back one at a time and carry it off to some suitable mini-pool, perhaps the water that collects among the leaves of an arboreal bromeliad.

The female Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates pumilio) is not as liberated. She does all the work. Since the tadpoles are canabalistic, she will carry each pollywog to a separate bromeliad pool. Then she will make return climbs up the trees to deliver an egg which will feed her hungry hatchlings until they are ready to hunt on their own in 9-15 weeks. No wonder these frogs are so readily seen. Not only are they brightly-colored, but they are really busy. Of course, they can make their rounds with the quiet assurance that their warning colors will keep predators at distance.