Dec. 7, 2014 - Costa Rica - Other Mammals

Mammals are always harder to see than birds but on my trip to Costa Rica I did see a few of them. This White-nosed Coati was searching for food at Arenal Observatory Lodge one morning. Its range includes Mexico, Central America, Columbia, and the very southwestern parts of the United States. An adult Coati can be 13 to 27 inches long from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. The tail can be as long as the body and is used mainly for balance. In the wild, a Coati can live to be 7 or 8 years old. They eat a variety of fruits, nuts, insects, and small lizards.

CoatiArenalObservatoryLodge20141020

At Lapa Rios Nature Reserve, I had one sighting of an Agouti. This small mammal (18 to 30 inches and 5 to 13 pounds) is related to the Guinea Pig. This Agouti is in its feeding position; sitting up on its hind legs and manipulating the food item with its forepaws. It’s a shy animal and generally runs away from humans. So I was happy to get a photo of it.

AgoutiLapaRiosNatureReserveCostaRica20141023

This Three-toed Sloth was in a tree at Hacienda Baru. It rained the previous night so the Sloth’s coat was drenched and it looked very disheveled. It still appears to have a big smile on its face, though. The big joke within our group was to find another photographer who hadn’t seen the sloth yet and tell them to come quickly; we’ve found a sloth in a tree. “Coming quickly,” of course, was not necessary because the sloth is the slowest mammal on Earth and wasn’t going anywhere very fast.

SlothThreetoedBradypusvariegatusHaciendaBaruCostaRica20141022

The sloth remained in the same spot and we later found it doing a “glamour pose.” Someone called this the “Burt Reynolds” look. One of our guides told us that sloths are very vulnerable on the ground so they spend almost all their time in trees. They will stay in one tree for a week, eating the leaves of that tree. Then they will come down during the night to go to the bathroom and move to another tree.

SlothThreetoedBradypusvariegatusHaciendaBaruCostaRica20141022

At Lapa Rios Nature Reserve, this Three-toed Sloth was hanging out in a tree right beside the pool. Its coat is dry but has a green cast to it. That’s because algae actually grows on the fur. A Three-toed Sloth is about 23 inches long and weighs just less than 9 pounds. It has an extra vertebrae in its neck which allows it to turn its head about 270 degrees. That’s about the same as an owl.

SlothThreetoedBradypusvariegatusLapaRiosNatureReserveCostaRica20141022