Costa Rica - Cahuita National Park

[guppiecat]

Now that I'm back from Canada, I am continuing my photos from Costa Rica. At this rate, I'll get the Canada photos posted by December. *sigh*

One of the first parks we went to was Cahuita National Park. It was a decent hike, but it rained a bit on the way back. I wish I had had my new camera raincoat there.

Set is here






These little guys were everywhere


Wild sloth


Not as many iguanas as little lizards, but still a fair amount of them


Howler monkeys weren't as loud as I'd been led to believe


These lizards were more rare


Crabs were everywhere too. They look suspicious to me.


Hermit crabs grow very large in Costa Rica. This one was the size of a football. The other folks who were there might disagree with this statement. If they do, just ask them what size football they're thinking of.




Lots of leafcutter ants went across the path. I tried not to step on them. (Note, the little ant getting a ride on the leaf is "cleaning it". I think they're just really good at lying to the other ants.)

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

LOVE the leafcutter ants!! I think I've only ever seen them in cartoons until now.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Nice leafcutter picture.

B

[trishtrash.livejournal.com]

'nother sloth. *happy sigh*

The crab in the water looks fierce, but what a pretty blue shell he has.

I second/third the cry of 'wonderful' on the leafcutter ant picture. Does anyone know what these creatures are building out of all these leaves? Or are they just all carrying giant green signs to make sure the human population of Costa Rica (and Guppy) doesn't step on them?

[guppiecat]

Serious answer: They take the plant matter into their nest and use it to grow a type of fungus that serves as food and (I believe) medicine for them.

Fun answer: They're building a huge insectesque statue of liberty. They don't have copper, you see, so they're doing a paper mache thing out of leaves.

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, thanks... normally I'd get a bigger kick out of the whimsy than the fact, but the fact has fungus-farming insects.

They're building a huge insectesque statue of liberty.

Probably a minor detail but ... comparatively huge, or actually huge?

[trishtrash.livejournal.com]

That was me; undercover*, in case the ants hear of my interest in their project.


*or just logged out.

[guppiecat]

Comparatively huge. It's about a foot tall, but it does have six legs.

[porosyonok-pluh.livejournal.com]

Hermit crab grandiose!