June 17, 2018 - Costa Rica - Mammals

We saw several sloths while we were in Costa Rica. Our bus driver saw this one in a tree over the road as we were driving from Arenal to Tarcoles. There are both Three-toed and Two-toed Sloths and this one appears to be a Three-toed Sloth. One foot clearly has three claws showing. The other one looks like it only has two but the third one is hidden under the sloth’s hair. Sloths are extremely slow-moving and spend most of their time up in trees. Three-toed sloths are 23 inches long and weigh about 9 pounds.

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Most bats are active only at night. We saw these Long-nosed Bats sleeping while clinging to a tree during our boat trip on the Sarapiqui River.

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Here’s a closer look at the bats. Notice the distinctive pattern on their backs. I saw one reference that said 110 bat species live in Costa Rica.

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The White-nosed Coati is also known as a Coatimundi. It’s in the same family as Raccoons. Males are larger than females, but they average between 9 and 14 pounds. The average length of a Coati is 43 inches but half of that is the very long tail which is mostly hidden in this photo. We saw this one during our tree-top tram ride at Braulio Carrillo National Park.

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One of my earlier posts was about the Macaws at the Natuwa Macaw Sanctuary. The owner of the sanctuary also rescued a pair of Jaguars. He is temporarily holding them while searching for a place in the wild where they could be released. Meanwhile, the pair had a cub so there are now three Jaguars waiting to be released. The cub is in front and one of the adults is in the back.

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These Howler Monkeys were lounging in a tree when we took a boat trip on the Sarapiqui River. They are well named; their call can be heard up to three miles away. On my first trip to Costa Rica, I recorded this hair-raising vocalization. Here’s a link to that post. https://www.earlorfphotos.com/Pictures-of-the-Week/2014-Pictures-of-the-Week/Nov-30-2014-Costa-Rica-Monkeys/

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