COSTA RICA WILDLIFE: THE CATS
It must have been about 5:00 when the howler monkeys awakened me. Early morning Costa Rica wildlife. I walked out of the pretty mountain cabin on a spectacular Costa Rica vacation day. Drake Bay was off in the distance and yellow-beaked toucans were flitting among the trees searching for fruit.     Then I heard it. The scream. Once, twice, again. The scream of a cat---a very large cat---somewhere in the forest far to my right. The mountains were alive! What was it? Can't tell you but if you've heard a puma on television you know what I was listening to. From the Mighty Jaguar to the Tiny OcillaThere are six different wildcats in Costa Rica, ranging from the mighty jaguar (the largest cat in the Western Hemisphere) to the tiny, about house cat sized, oncilla.In between there's the puma, ocelot, margay, and jaguarundi. Jaguars roam the deep forests and mountains of Costa Rica but are rarely seen during the day. If you're lucky enough to visit the spectacular Osa Peninsula, you might see their tracks along the beaches. Sometimes people also see them on their Costa Rica vacations, along with an incredible amount of other Costa Rica wildlife, while boating along the rivers at the incomparable
Tortuguero National Park, click.
Locals in the area where I heard the big cat have told me that pumas and peccaries are now seen in areas where they were completely absent 20 years ago. Back then, much of the mountainsides had been cleared for small farms. Then, Americans and Canadians started visiting, buying up more-and-more of the farms and letting the jungle return. Along with the second growth forest came the monkeys, peccaries, birds, pumas, and other Costa Rica wildlife. It's amazing what nature can do when given a chance. And this is where YOU come in. Costa Rica eco tourism has convinced the people and government of this magnificent country that its future lies with sustainable use of its resources. In a very real, and literal, way Costa Rica has committed itself to conservation. It is the first country to declare it's going to be carbon neutral in only a few years. And it's already in the top five of all countries in the world
for environmental performance! See here
It's because Ticos have learned---and appreciate---that birds, sea turtles, whales, wildcats, and all 500,000 species of plants and animals within its borders are more valuable alive than dead, more valuable conserved than exploited. Oh, if only the rest of us could be so smart! Maybe you can as a
Costa Rica sea turtle volunteer, click
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