ARTICLE 3

A Walk In The Jungle
by Dr. Douglas Graham
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All rights reserved. Copyright 2004

Definitely Not Kansas
Upon awakening you wonder, “Where am I?” Then you remember that you have traveled for two days to reach the Pacific edge of Costa Rica’s mountainous wet forest region. You have been told that this is a unique corridor area known as “La Ballena,” meaning, “the whale.” The ultra-friendly Costa Ricans, affectionately referred to as “ticos,” have earned their reputation as the world’s most gracious people. Ask a tico for directions and it is common for the person to stop whatever s/he is doing and simply take you to your destination. You are looking forward to your walking tour of the area, certain that you will totally enjoy the visit while learning a lot about the plants, the animals, and their relationships in Nature.

Only in the specific region around La Ballena, due to the exceptional configuration of the mountains, do botanical and zoological life forms from North and South America tend to overlap. Costa Rica is home to most of the plants and animals found throughout Central America. The geographic zone known locally as La Ballena is also the home to many indigenous species of flora and fauna that are found only here. Species diversity is more abundant here than perhaps anywhere else on Earth.

Due to its extremely remote location, Uvita, the little pueblo that will serve as our base camp area, became hooked up to electricity less than a decade ago. Pavement did not come to this isolated village of about five hundred people until the beginning of the twenty-first century. Now the town is growing rapidly. As it does so, many of the endangered species that have until recently flourished in the La Ballena area are suffering the same fate as has befallen their worldwide brethren once exposed to the machines and industry that accompany most human civilizations.

Distance here is often still measured in time, however. How far is it to the top of this hill we are walking, you ask? About four hours to the top, or two hours if you are on horseback. How far away is San Isidro, the small city that serves this area? In good weather, it is an hour’s drive or a very long two day’s walk. A few years ago, after Hurricane Caesar washed out many of the bridges and blocked almost all the roads with multiple landslides, every Costa Rican village was isolated from the others. The journey to San Isidro became a grueling and often life-threatening four-day walk. Men had to form human chains to scramble up some of the slides.

Should you be walking in the jungle by yourself, it is always a good idea to have your escape route in mind. What would you do if you fell while crossing the river; ride the currents or try to catch hold of a large boulder? If you slipped while walking on a thin ledge, it is good to have decided in advance whether you would be safer to push yourself away from the wall to the water below or try your best to stop your fall by finding something to grab on to. . Realizing that it might take you days to get to help if you hurt yourself should reduce your likelihood of taking unnecessary risks.

We walk with two guides so that one can go for help if needed while the other stays with the group. One guide leads the group, often swinging a machete and clearing a path while still walking faster than we can easily follow. The other takes the “rear gunner” position, making sure that no one is left behind.

Though logging and full scale clearing of forest for use as pasture affected more than half of the Costa Rican landscape, the mountains of this special area are so steep as to make grazing almost impossible and logging uneconomical. Green is the overriding color here, every conceivable shade of it. The lack of paved roads also helped keep this area pure. When you take in a mountain-view here, you are decidedly looking at primary forest that has never been disturbed.
It is difficult to gain perspective on the immensity of the objects in your view. Though it looks mostly like a field of broccoli, the mountains in front of you are actually covered by a forest of trees that are almost three hundred feet tall. The little birds you see flying above are hawks, vultures, and eagles whose wingspans are from six to eight feet. The mountains themselves do not look that grand until you realize that they start at almost sea level and rise five thousand feet upwards; they have more vertical drop than most ski slopes. Those specks you see on the nearby open hillside that look like mushrooms are actually cows.

You are about to enter into a world that most humans have only imagined. It is pristine, beautiful, and dangerous. You must keep your wits about you at all times. The balance of nature is still functioning normally here, though we will see examples of it having been disturbed. If you are not a nature lover yet, expect to become one quickly. This place will impact upon you, as it does upon everyone who visits here.

What is a Wet Forest?
There are four types of forest in Costa Rica: rain forest, wet forest, cloud forest, and dry forest. Each offers a large variety of unique plant and animal species as well as truly different weather patterns. Costa Rica is situated about five hundred miles north of the equator, so seasons have a different meaning here than they do further north or far to the south.

In Costa Rica’s wet forest there are only two seasons; the rainy season, known as winter, or “invierno” and the dry season, referred to as summer, or “verano.” In the wet season, it will rain about twenty inches per month, on average, barring any heavy storms. A hurricane in 1996 dropped over fifty inches of rain overnight here, resulting in many landslides and washing out over 100 bridges in the area.

Even in rainy season, however, it does not rain every day. Precipitation six days out of seven is a fairly reliable estimate. Contrary to popular opinion, it does not rain all day long in the rainy season, either. It is more common for there to be clouds in the morning that burn off around ten a.m., followed by bright sunshine until late afternoon when clouds and rain move in. Often, by sunset, the rain is finished and there will be clouds until the next morning.


Sometimes the rain is so heavy that it is impossible to carry on a conversation due to the noise, especially if you live in a house with a tin roof, which is the norm here. It is a joy to go outside and wash yourself in these rains. Your hair and skin will never feel as good as they do after having been washed in Nature’s pure rainwater. After you have washed yourself in a few downpours you will understand why most creatures do not seem to mind the rain as much as you think they should and why many animals actually love the rain.

Summer, the dry season that lasts from late December until early May, is not completely rain free, as there will be close to five inches of rain per month during this time. This rain also usually falls in the late afternoon or in the middle of the night. Rain in the dry season is always a welcomed treat. It cools the air, cleans everything, and brings much appreciated water to all the plants and animals.
The wet forest tends to stay green all year round, though the green is even more lush in winter. It is just as lush but not as rainy as the rain forests (where one simply must “make peace” with being wet.) Summer in the wet forest is not as dry as it is in the dry forests. Dry forests reliably turn brown in the summer. Their dry dusty roads bring a plague of dust to everything that is within carrying distance. Houses, trees, cars, clothing and pedestrians are repeatedly covered in this dust all summer long that is raised as each car drives past.

The cloud forests, as their name implies, are at higher elevations and have their own unique weather patterns. It is not unusual in the cloud forest to be totally “socked in” by freezing cold, wet grey clouds one moment only to find yourself in brilliant dry sunshine the next. When the sun shines, every leaf tip becomes a prism, offering an amazing spectacle of color. While snow is uncommon in Costa Rica, it is not unheard of at the uppermost altitudes of the cloud forest. Plant life is dwarfed here, making a visitor feel much like Gulliver in a world of bonsai.

No matter where you are in Costa Rica, however, mold and mildew are realities of life. There is no escaping it. Anything, and that means anything, that is not exposed to occasional sunlight is likely to grow moldy here, and that includes private body parts. The humidity is a big part of why things grow so well here in Costa Rica and why there is such tremendous species variation. There is no need to fight the mold or to be frustrated by it. A bit of judicious use of sunshine will adequately serve to keep all your belongings fresh. Still, it is not advised that you bring more clothing or possessions than you truly need to this lush garden land. Mold is no respecter of persons. I have seen it growing on photographs, audiocassettes and CDs, and even on car windows.

The wet forest of Costa Rica provides the ideal living conditions for humans. It is easy to grow food here, as plants require little care. The temperatures are comfortable year round. There is plenty of sun, and the soil is fertile. We will taste and experience many of Nature’s treats while we are here.

The Jungle Never Sleeps
The first thing you notice, before even opening your eyes, is the almost deafening rizzing of what sounds like millions of cicadas. They seem to be omnipresent. Having already tuned up and begun their daily vibrato hum, they give you the feeling that the entire jungle is alive and ready for the day. You wonder if perhaps they are still thrumming since yesterday. It is extremely difficult to tell, as you know theirs was the last sound you heard before falling asleep. They give off a bit of moisture, so when you walk under them it seems as if it is raining. You get the feeling that they are urinating on you, but for some strange reason, it is not at all unpleasant.

Most of the nighttime sounds were unrecognizable to you, as are the names and faces of most of the night creatures here in Costa Rica. For that matter, most of Costa Rica’s half million plus species of plants and animals are new to you. You will likely see more varieties of creatures here in one week than you would in a year almost anyplace else on Earth. There was no way to tell if the screeches in the darkness were those of delight or impending death; or even whether they derived from mammal, bird, reptile, or amphibian.

This is a land that is full of surprises. You will be astonished to find that there are birds that sound like mammals and others that give a very good imitation of an insect. Many mammals sound more like insects, birds or human babies than what you would have expected from them. Amphibians that mimic the cries of birds and other animals are common, as are many other oddities.

The sleek jaguarundi, for example, Costa Rica’s fifteen pound reddish cat, makes thirteen different vocalizations, some of which are extremely realistic birdlike chirps. When the jaguarundi is hunting, these chirps make excellent camouflage, as birds make some of its favorite prey. Various clicks, squeals, hums, chirps, squawks, whoops, whistles, screams, croaks, coos, shrieks, snaps, cheeps, squeaks, rustles, trills, scratches, screeches, whirs take turns filling the jungle chorus. Literally all variation of sounds and calls are interspersed with almost dead silence.

When things are quiet, it is quite easy to hear the ocean waves breaking on the beach, their white foam plainly visible but over two miles distant, a tribute to the size and power of the waves of the Pacific. The fact that you are sleeping at an altitude of over two hundred meters above sea level helps make the waves more audible and the temperatures even more comfortable. It is summer here in the wet forest area, the time of little rain and relatively low humidity. Sleeping is cozy and the days are perfect for hiking.

Every day promises to be even more spectacular than the last. The nights here are almost always twelve hours long, the same as the days, and they are equally as busy with jungle life. Many of the jungle creatures go torpid during the day, falling into an almost stupor-like type of sleep. There are birds, butterflies, cats bats and other mammals, frogs, and reptiles such as many of the snakes that are strictly creatures of the night, preferring to sleep all the way through the heat of the day.
Dawn and dusk are also the prime time for many jungle animals to find their food. The poor lighting at these times works to the hunter’s advantage. The trick seems to be to catch a meal when it is off guard. End of day or right at its beginning is often very good for such predatory sneakiness. Many animals become less wary as their day (or night) ends and they begin to succumb to the urge to sleep.

For obvious reasons, jungle hiking is not recommended in the predawn or early dusk hours, and nighttime hiking is also contraindicated. The wildlife continues to make their calls through the jungle night indicating that life here definitely goes on round the clock. If you feel a strong desire to want to learn which creature is making which sound, you definitely are not alone. It takes tremendous patience, lots of persistence, a fair bit of luck, and excellent guides, to learn even a small percentage of the jungle’s secrets.

No Need to Push, Everyone Will Get a Chance to Eat
The creatures of the night have either successfully found their prey or have gone to bed hungry. Hunger adds a sharper edge to every animal’s hunt for food. Once discovered, most animals catch their prey in a matter of seconds. The trick is usually in finding dinner, not in securing it.

The spectacled owls, screech owls, and mottled owls silently swooped down on their prey of insects, beetles, small rodents, snakes, frogs and even bats and consumed them greedily. The common potoo, with its eerie, mournful song of six descending flutelike notes, is often called the “lost soul” because its song is so melancholy. The black vulture is the only land bird to spend a longer time at nest than the potoo, which incubates its single egg for about thirty-three days and then stays with its fledgling for about fifty more days. Nighthawks such as the common pauraque took care of their feeding needs in businesslike fashion, expertly picking off hundreds of moths, butterflies, wasps, beetles, and other winged insects.

The tayra, known as the tolomuco here in Costa Rica, is the jet-black cat/fox of the forest that closely resembles the weasel. It probably snared its meal early in the morning, during the night’s darkest hour, though tolomuco often hunt in the day as well. Except for mothers with their babes, tolomuco are almost always seen alone. Costa Rica boasts a unique variety of tayra that has a white spot on the top of its head. Locals refer to it as the “old man” in Spanish. The tolomuco is not a picky eater.

The nine-banded armadillo, with its tiny peglike teeth, patiently explores the jungle floor all night knowing that it will eventually find its dinner of ants, slugs, beetles, earthworms, centipedes, termites, fruits, caterpillars, and small invertebrates. Its armored appearance makes it look almost immobile but actually the armadillo is extremely agile. It can run like a rabbit, jump straight upwards, and if needed, quickly dig a hole with its sharp claws into which to escape predators. You are unlikely to see armadillo except in the night, but you may get lucky and see them by a roadside at dusk or dawn.

Terciopelo, otherwise known as the dreaded fer-de-lance, one of the world’s most deadly snakes, performs its nighttime hunting ritual by simply waiting at the trailside for an unsuspecting creature into which to sink its inch long fangs. There is no urgency. If not tonight, the terciopelo will be successful tomorrow night, or the next. Many animals prefer the ease of thoughtlessly using the existing trails, and their alertness can lag. This makes waiting at trailside a safe bet.

Like most snakes, the fer-de-lance need only eat once a month to maintain its powerful ten-foot length. In order to consume prey that is sometimes bigger than its mouth and sometimes longer than itself, many snakes inject hemolytic (blood destroying) substances mixed with digestive enzymes so that the process of digestion can begin even before their dinner is swallowed. In this fashion, a ten foot snake can swallow a twelve foot snake, or a fairly large mammal.

Jaguar, jaguarundi, margay, cougar, tigrillo, puma, ocelot and the other predatory cats enjoy their nightly feast of rodents such as the half-rabbit half-rat guatusas, the mini deer-like agouti paca known here as tepezcuintle, and the tapiti, the forest rabbit. The cute little kinkajou or honey bear, known as the “oso mielero” in Spanish, inserts its long tongue deep into beehives to eat the honey. They are so cute they look like they would make good pets, and many people have tried, but no one has succeeded. The nocturnal honey bear simply sleeps quietly all day but is extremely active and noisy all through the night.

Three types of skunks prowl the Costa Rican jungles at night. Fortunately, they are very private creatures who do not like to encounter us any more than we like to encounter them. It is not uncommon to smell their distinctive aroma, however, as they are quite willing to look for food in populated areas and can be quick to emit their “perfume” should they be startled. Many a dog has woefully come skulking home reeking of the skunk’s revenge.

A Little Batty
Bats are mammals, but of all mammals they are the ones that we can least well relate to. They fly, they are nocturnal, they often have funny noses and pointy ears, most hang upside down, they rely upon sonic echolocation to find food rather than using their sense of sight or smell, some lap blood as their only food source. Basically they are nothing like us. Still, bats are absolutely fascinating creatures.

There are over two hundred twenty eight different species of mammals in Costa Rica and over half of them are the various types of bats. Bats are highly successful in terms of their numbers. Many researchers assert that in the forests of Costa Rica, bats compete with sloth for the honor of outweighing all the other mammals combined.

There are nectar bats, sucker-footed bats, white-lined bats, little brown bats, vampire bats, false vampire bats (the largest of all bats with a wingspan of over thirty inches), tent making bats, greater bulldog bats, and black myotis bats, to name must a few. Bats are perhaps the most varied and versatile of mammals. There are almost one thousand species of bats worldwide. Amongst mammals, only rodents boast more species.

Last night a vampire bat found the same cow from which it has been sipping blood every night for over a week, and reopened the same wound. The vampire bats’ saliva contains an anticoagulant that prevents the wound from healing properly, making it easy to start the blood flowing night after night. The vampire does not suck blood, but the anti-clotting factor in its saliva encourages blood to continue to ooze from the wound.

Vampire bats were relatively uncommon until the advent of intensive animal farming. As the number of cattle multiplied, so did the number of vampire bats. Though it is extremely rare behavior, vampire bats have been known to take blood from humans during the night. According to researchers, the vampire bats’ razor sharp incision is painless. Dare we wonder how this conclusion was reached?

A lucky fruit-eating bat discovered a raceme of bananas with one banana that had finally become perfectly ripe for the taking. A nectar bat pollinated thousands of night-blooming plants while peacefully gathering its succor. The frog-eating bat was equally as successful in finding its favorite food, though mealtime was definitely not so a tranquil scene. Even the fishing bats easily secured their piscine meal.

Bats basically take a bad rap. They are loving and nurturing parents. For the most part, bats fill environmental functions that make them extremely friendly and utile towards man. Bats such as the sac-wing and the long-nose can eat their weight in insects every night, catching as many as sixty mosquitoes in a minute. Many bats serve as the primary pollinators for our various night-blooming plants, such as the many cacti that supply us with fruit.

Bats rarely eat fruit where they find it, a safety consideration that keeps them clear of potential predators. They prefer to carry it to a more secure site for consumption. Thus they are the primary seed movers for many types of fruits. This function alone is invaluable.

Costa Rica is a land bridge nation between North and South America. Many animals have not migrated as far north or south as to reach this Central American nation. Bats efficiently fill many ecological niches in Costa Rica that are filled by other animals elsewhere but here would otherwise be left completely empty. With more species of bats than most countries have mammals in total, empty ecological niches are few and far between in this rich land.

When you see the bats come out at dusk, smile, knowing that they will not harm you. Bats are not crazy, it is the insects that they are chasing that govern their erratic flight pattern. They are greatly reducing your likelihood of being bitten by pesky critters. It is wise to think of bats as our friends, not pesky critters to be feared or eliminated. Bats, for all the idiosyncrasies, are yet another example of the wonders of Nature at her finest.

Quit Monkeying Around
At approximately four thirty in the morning, at the very first hint of daylight, the mantled howler monkeys perform their musical magic act for the first of many times each day. These slow moving, very deliberate troupes of leaf eaters love to be left alone, especially by other howler troupes.
Their call is half elephant trumpet, half bark, and it travels for close to two miles through the jungle. One troupe calls out, then the next, the next, and the next. Finally the first group howls again, starting the entire cycle anew. What ever are the howlers saying at this time of day? It could very simply be, “We are over here, where are you?” or, “We are already here so don’t come over this way.”

Because howlers eat primarily leaves and leaves are exceptionally available in the wet forest, howlers tend to maintain a very small home range, of which they are quite protective. If you know where some howlers were a few days ago, you are very likely to find them relatively close by the next time you look for them.

Some biologists have theorized that fruit eating (compared to leaf eating) makes one animal more intelligent than another because of the large number of decisions and information that must be processed. Where, exactly, was that tree with the ripe fruit? At what time of year was the fruit ready? Who else might be there, eating our fruit, that we need to be wary of? Was that the delicious fruit or was it the kind that made us all get sick and fall out of the trees?

Other biologists theorize that because an animal is more intelligent it is more likely to eat fruit. Their theory is that smarter animals eat fruit because fruit’s nutrients are more readily available and it supplies more calories per bite for the caloric density necessary for brain development, etc. Genetically, the smarter the monkey, the more closely its gene package mimics that of humans. And the smarter the monkey, the more fruit it eats. This is true of the anthropoid apes as well, the monkeys without tails.

Either way, the leaf eating howlers are not the most intelligent of the monkeys. They could watch you eat bananas every day for a month and not catch on to the idea that bananas would make a good food for them, too. Howlers have many redeeming features, but intelligence is not one of them.

The white-faced capuchin monkeys, on the other hand, are extremely intelligent. They are quick to learn that anything you might eat is fair game for them. If you ate some mango or any food the capuchins never saw before and then you threw some to them, they would likely come down out of the trees to eat it. In spite of the temptation, feeding creatures in the wild is near the very top of the “extremely not recommended” list.

There are four, possibly five (if you include the rarely-sighted night monkey), species of monkey that live in Costa Rica but on our walks we will likely only see the howlers and the capuchins. The other two varieties, the squirrel monkeys and the spider monkeys, used to live here too, but have been eradicated locally. They are hopefully making comebacks in this area as reforestation efforts make headway and the environmental consciousness of the local human population improves.

Central American red-backed squirrel monkey populations are restricted to Pacific coast pocket areas of Panama and Costa Rica, both just to the north and to the south of La Ballena. Still, it is a full three hundred miles from their nearest South American brethren. Biogeographers have theorized that traders brought squirrel monkeys to Costa Rica in pre-Columbian times. Once you have been entertained by a troupe of squirrel monkeys acrobatically moving through the jungle, you will understand why they were likely of such high trade value.

Monkey is still considered acceptable food in some circles, though the ethics of this practice is being questioned more as time goes on. Those who eat monkey say that the spider monkey is the best tasting. When this author has observed the graceful spider monkey, using its long arms and thumb-less hands to majestically swing from limb to limb through the jungle in huge arcs, awe, not appetite, was by far and away the primary emotion evoked. Their method of locomotion is known as brachiation. It requires a long arms, curved hands, and an incredibly mobile shoulder joint.

Time to Get Started
Daybreak is extremely rapid in the tropics, as is nightfall, because so near the equator the sun is moving almost perpendicular to the horizon for most of the year. It is pleasantly cool in the morning though and there is a lot to see and do today. The afternoons are much hotter; it is easy to see how siestas became a custom here. An early start makes the most sense, especially because the day definitely ends by six p.m. when it will be totally dark and dangerous to be out and about.

Once the cicadas and other creatures begin the morning’s symphony, it is easy to get up. Most folks are surprised to find that they naturally are up and starting their day much earlier than they do “at home.” It is typical for the work day to start at 6 am in Costa Rica. Almost any Costa Rican man other than a city dweller will proudly tell you that he goes to bed by around 7 in the evening.

Naturally, you don’t want to miss anything, so following a few stretches and yawns you begin your day. After a delicious breakfast of locally grown watermelon, known here as “sandia,” you and your newfound friends are ready to meet the excitement of today’s walk that beckons alluringly. The sky has gone from black to gray to light blue with many pink clouds. Soon, the sun will be coming over the mountains and the day will heat up.

Since some folks in your group want to see the mountains, others the jungle, and still others wish to lounge below a scenic waterfall, your guide, Alex, amenably agrees to show you everything in one walk. Everyone wears lightweight long trousers, a cool but modest top, comfortable footwear, and a hat. In the jungle, you are told, it is always considered good form to wear a hat, for reasons that will be explained later. You join with your group as they enthusiastically embark on the first of many walks that you will take in this area. Today you are going to be walking on Finca de Los Cuentos de Ballenas, the Whales Tales Farm.

Alex brings along his impressively long and extremely sharp machete, “just in case.” Walking on the dirt path that serves as a road in these parts, (four-wheel drive vehicles are still essential here) you pass several “typical” tico homes. They are tin roofed wooden cabins with cement or wooden floors. All have wooden shutters but most do not have screens. No insulation is required, and the inside walls are usually not “finished.” Indoor plumbing is the norm, but hot water is a rarity. Fortunately, the weather is such that using cold water for a shower is not in the least unpleasant. Of course, at our hotel, there is solar-generated hot water for everyone.

Cleanliness is extremely important here in the wet forest or disease will predominate, and accordingly the Costa Rican people take great pride in keeping themselves, their clothes and their simple but functional houses exceptionally clean. There is plenty to look at as we walk by, but you do not know who is more on display, the ticos or the gringos, as the locals seem to find you plenty interesting too.

After about a mile of easy walking, you cross your first river. Hopping from rock to rock you start to feel more like a youth on an adventure. Proudly, you successfully navigate the crossing without even wetting your feet. Once on the other side, you kneel down and test the water with your hands. It is pure, clear, and of a refreshing temperature. Alex assures you that it is totally safe to drink and so you help yourself, even putting a little on the back of your neck and wetting your hat, too.

This walk is getting to be even more enjoyable than you had imagined. The beautiful rocky area by the river seems an ideal playground, and you are assured that you will have the chance to come back to it later in the week. Though it is already warmer than early this morning, the sun has not yet broken free over the mountains and the day is still pleasantly cool. You start to feel that you are ready for whatever the day brings. Alex tells us that it is time to start walking upwards.

The Orchestra Tunes Up
Each member of the huge Costa Rican bird chorus has begun tuning up for the day; one at a time weaving their call into the tapestry of sound that fills the air. Flocks of white-fronted wild parrots fly raucously overhead, never even pausing from their endless chatter. A lone culi blanca sits hidden in a nearby tree and patiently sings its beautiful and mournful “woo woo wo woo” mating call. Common ground doves, affectionately called “tortolitas” here, coo softly and incessantly.

A fiery-billed aracari toucan, locally referred to as the cusingo, hops off of a branch and soars into an open clearing and, in distinctive toucan style, swoops down then up, to perch on a more inviting tree. With its recognizable two-note “cheep-eep” it calls to its friends, who fly over in “strings”, one at a time, to make their way over to the new feeding site. These birds eat mostly fruit though they will eat the occasional spider, snake or even raid other birds’ nests and eat their eggs or their young.
The colorful keel-billed toucan makes a series of shrill ascending trilled chirps that sound more like a giant cricket than a bird. The keel-billed toucan is often parasitized by the larger Swainson’s toucan. The larger toucan will follow the slightly smaller one until it successfully finds a fruit-filled tree and will then chase the smaller one away. The chestnut-mandibled or Swainson’s toucan is the largest of the six species of toucans found in Costa Rica. Its repetitious call of ascending squeals, each followed by two ascending squeaks, is difficult to miss. Everyone loves watching the toucans. Fortunately for us, they are abundant in this area and often make themselves clearly visible while we enjoy our dinner meal.

The variety of birdsong is apparently infinite; it seems we are always noticing a new one. Could it be simply that our awareness levels are rising? Flying insects of every conceivable type and variety buzz by, intent upon pursuing their private mission with focused single-mindedness of purpose. Griot, a relative of the grasshopper, methodically perform their trademark “bing” that sounds exactly as if a man hit a metal railroad spike with a sledgehammer. The jungle sounds ebb and flow leaving room for every creature to fit in and make its mark.

If you are lucky you may hear what sounds like a flock of chirping birds that turns out to be a cascade of red-backed squirrel monkeys, locally known as titis. These little fruit eaters are surely nature’s most agile and playful acrobats. Their technique for making you feel unwelcome is quite unmistakably clear, however; they simply climb above you en masse and quite accurately defecate upon you. This wonder of Nature would be yet another reason that you would sincerely appreciate the advice to always wear your hat in the jungle.

Beautiful in Every Language
Butterflies are known as mariposas in Spanish, schmetteling in German. There are almost ten thousand species of butterflies and moths in Costa Rica. They are most prevalent in the rainy season, but even in summer there is almost always a butterfly in sight. All you have to do is stop what you are doing and watch them in order to enjoy them. Their colors, delicate design, erratic flight patterns, and exquisitely gentle nature make butterfly watching an extremely pleasurable pastime.

Many butterflies feed on the juices of rotting fruits while some eat nectar and some eat pollen. The “cracker” butterflies, known for the unusual cracking sound they make during flight, often land on animal dung to eat. It seems that this butterfly and several other night flyers use sonics to their advantage. There are many types of bats that will happily eat butterflies. By emitting certain frequencies the butterflies effectively become “cloaked.” In this fashion, they actually obscure themselves from the bats’ echolocation technique, becoming for intents and purposes “invisible” to the bat. Using this method they successfully escape being consumed for dinner by the bats.
There are even butterflies such as the caligo “owl” butterfly that will feed on carrion. Those that land on your shoelaces, clothing, or spectacles do so not because they like you (sorry about that) but because they can harvest some of the mineral salts from your perspiration. The average butterfly lives just over one week, but some, like the heliconius hecale zuleika passionflower butterfly can live as long as nine months.

The amount of variety and number of specialized abilities and adaptations among butterflies is staggering. Every color of the rainbow can be found in butterfly wings, including wings that are “mirrored” and those that are almost completely transparent. The numbers 0-9 can be clearly found on certain butterfly wings. Some male butterflies defend their turf against other males of the same species while some, such as the banded peacock butterfly will even pursue other butterflies, birds, and humans if they should venture into the butterfly’s territory.

There are species of caterpillar and butterfly that eat plants from which they can manufacture toxins. Heliconius caterpillars produce cyanogenic glycosides, a cyanide poison, from passionflower leaves. Birds get extremely ill if they eat this poison and quickly learn not to eat the Heliconius caterpillar or butterfly. Other butterflies simply taste terrible (to their potential consumers) and are thus afforded protection. Then there are butterflies that remain safe by simply looking like the butterflies that are poisonous or bad tasting.

Many butterflies and moths use near-perfect camouflage to hide from predation in either their adult or caterpillar form. Once the “calico” butterfly lands on a tree and opens its wings, it almost totally “disappears.” If this isn’t strange enough, the adult male zebra longwing Heliconius butterfly mates with the female before she emerges from her chrysalis. Even if you choose to learn nothing about the butterflies and have no desire to categorize those you see by species, their sheer beauty will bring you many happy moments.

Not Just Another Walk in the Park
One moment you are walking in an open field in bright sunlight, seemingly on familiar ground, the forest looking quite peaceful and friendly off to one side. Within a few steps, however, you step into the dark, dank, jungle and find yourself definitely no longer on home turf. The transition is total, and just as amazing. You are used to looking at the jungle; in photos, films, on television, etc., but absolutely not used to being in it. Somewhere in the back of your mind you recognize it as “home,” but it is a long-lost home, one with which you have had little contact, one that has become only a distant memory.

It is difficult to get your bearings; you find it challenging to gain perspective as things seem to move in and out of scale. You are not sure what to pay attention to, what is important and what is inconsequential. Your senses go on “red alert” as for some reason you feel hyper alert to the possibility of danger almost everywhere. Fear wells up inside of you, but, like in an Alfred Hitchcock movie, at the moment there really is no true reason for you to have fear. Yet you sense the danger, feel yourself defenseless, and recognize that here in the jungle you are a weakling walking amongst the strong.

It could simply be the overwhelming presence of the unknown. There is so much unknown in such a concentrated dose. You are not sure what to touch, where to step, what is safe or dangerous even to breathe. Your fear becomes almost paralyzing. Every once in a while you think perhaps you recognize a leaf. Then you think it couldn’t be anything you know because it is growing on a tree fifty times larger than the ones you knew back “home” and the leaves are ten times the size of those you have seen before. It suddenly hits you that you are simply looking at healthy versions of what you grow at home, simple houseplants, happy in their natural environment.

A little more comfortable, you walk on a bit more. As you unwittingly step into their domain, a troupe of howler monkeys, led by their alpha male, bark their “loudest of all animal sounds” to let you know you are not welcome in their vicinity. Everyone with you comments on the alpha’s large “cohones,” and you wonder which of your groups speaks with respect for him, which with lust, and which with pride in themselves. Either way, the “bathroom humor” breaks the tension and you feel a bit more calm in the peace of the jungle.

It is not a good idea, you are warned, to try to get too close to the howlers for too long, for the males have another method of letting you know that you are not invited in their domain besides their powerful vocalizations. They will encircle you from above and all urinate upon you. Their aim is pretty good, too, you are told, and you once again feel thankful that you did indeed follow the advice to wear a hat.

After a bit more uneventful walking through beautiful verdant “bosque” as the jungle is called here in Costa Rica, a white-throated capuchin monkey notices you, long before you notice him, and ventures out onto the very skinniest of branches to get a better look at you. When his curiosity is satisfied, he casually retreats back into invisibility in the safety of the trees. You soon hear him chittering away with the rest of his troupe.

After just a short while more on the trail, still surprisingly close to civilization, you smell the most acrid of ammonia aromas and see the large cat-paw prints that verify that an ocelot or jaguar has recently been in the very spot where you are now standing. With a sudden shudder you realize that you are but an inexperienced visitor here, an outsider looking in. This is not a theme park. There are plenty of very real dangers here. You decide to keep the group in sight at all times, and to listen very closely to any instructions or information that Alex or your other guides may see fit to offer from here on.

Your appreciation for life in the jungle continues to mount. The animals that live here have to earn their right to be here every day. Their level of awareness must always be on “red alert” yet they all seem calm enough. For the first time in your life you think you are starting to finally understand the expression, “It’s a jungle out there.”

The Tail of the Whale
Alex does not say much while you walk. When he does talk, everyone listens closely. “Pay attention here,” says Alex. It is easy to see why. The trail has become extremely narrow. Actually, it is little more than a thin strip of ledge on a steep rock wall. Twenty-five feet below you runs a raging stream in a rock filled crevasse. As you inch your way along the ten-foot long path between you and the safety of a wider berth, you start thinking what a bad time this would be to be attacked by bees.
Costa Rica has so many different types of bees. Killer bees tend to make their nests high up in trees so as not bother, or to be bothered by humans or other animals. Many of the bee varieties do not sting. Perhaps the most interesting bees are the “take off your pants and run” variety. If you happen to meander into their turf, these pesky critters will swarm on you and crawl inside your clothing before stinging, hence their well-deserved name. Bees are as important in the jungle as they are everywhere else in the world. In the process of obtaining the pollen they need in order to make their honey, they pollinate the plants from which they feed. This prime example of symbiosis is considered a classic, and it works perfectly for the jungle plants.

As you start walking uphill, you realize how little of the landscape you are actually taking in unless you stop to look. Basically, you see only that which is directly in front of you, or literally only that which is under your feet. This is one steep trail and you are spending most of your time looking down. You are only going at a walking pace and yet you are out of breath, a fact that amazes you. Sweat is dripping from your brow. “This better be good,” you think.

After over two hours of walking continuously uphill through the truly inspirationally pure wet forest, taking only a few short breaks and without once hearing a man-made sound, you have realized many things. 1. You are not in the great shape you thought you were in. 2. You now understand why the Costa Rican people usually have exceptionally well-developed calf muscles. 3. The wild animals of this area must be amazingly fit and rugged, with incredibly high levels of awareness. 4. You rather love it out here in the tranquility of nature. 5. You would make an easy target if a predator, say a jaguar, chose to attack you from above, as you are almost constantly looking downward when walking uphill. 6. These mountains are much bigger than they look. 7. Green is an absolutely beautiful color. 8. This mountainous land really is perfect for birds.

No wonder Costa Rica is considered a bird watcher’s paradise. Most of the animals that you have seen and heard on this trip are birds. There are about seven hundred bird species in all of North America but over eight hundred species that call tiny Costa Rica, which is just slightly larger than Switzerland, home. Many, such as the toucans, motmots, manakins, and cotingas are endemic to these Neotropics, meaning that they occur nowhere else on Earth.

Relief from the hard uphill climb finally comes when at long last you reach a level area with a clearing. The million-dollar view that you were hoping for turns out to be a billion-dollar view instead. Finally it dawns on you why this area is called “La Ballena” and why the local beachside national park is “playa ballena,“ for ballena in Spanish means, “whale.”

In Uvita, there is a natural breakwater over a mile long that is parallel to and several hundred meters from the coastline. Over the years, a spit of sand has connected the breakwater to the shoreline. From this elevation, at low tide only, the breakwater and sandbar combine to look identical to the tail of a massive whale. Like the Big Dipper or the Man in the Moon, seeing this whale’s tail takes almost no imagination whatever. The sheer size of the tail, however, once again emphasizes the grand scale of almost everything in this wonderful country.

It Truly is a Jungle Out There
Walking a bit further along this verdant trail, you start walking through a relatively level area that is somewhat wetter than the trail has been up until now. It seems that several streams have jumped their beds and are gently overflowing in this area. Sometimes you are walking in mud, sometimes rock hopping, and once in a while you must step straight into the inch deep water as it flows over the land. You are not sure if this should be an unpleasant experience or not, and laugh at your lack of seasoning about such things. You know it is not a big deal for at the very worst, your feet will get wet. It will not ruin your day in the slightest, as you are having too much fun on this adventure.

Heliconia plants, whose brilliant flowers give them the name of “lobster claw plants” in the United States, are growing densely here, attracting hummingbirds. The going gets thicker and Alex must literally hack the trail open for us. He gives little thought to cutting down the heliconias as they will grow back rapidly in this area. He is unaware that they would be worth thousands of dollars if we could send them to the US. In two or three minutes of swinging machete, Alex has cut down a sufficient quantity of these plants that if they were sold in the US, they would pay his salary for an entire year. We can no more get these plants to market in the States than we can bring the clean jungle air to our inner city kids.

As you walk through this area where vision is limited, thoughts of snakes come to your mind, and you wonder if this is when you are finally going to see your first one. You don’t know if that is a happy thought or not. On the one hand, seeing a real live jungle snake would be an exhilarating experience. On the other, with vision so limited here, the snake would likely be closer than you would like, and possibly closer than the snake would like as well.

Fortunately, you have done your homework, and you remember that this is not the preferred locale for the king of Costa Rica’s nineteen varieties of venomous snakes, the bushmaster, known here as matabuey. Growing to almost fifteen feet in length, the bushmaster prefers the low wetlands. A nocturnal hunter, during the day the bushmaster is likely curled up at the base of a palm tree. Here it awaits the arrival of its preferred food, the spiny rat, a large rodent that has the unfortunate habit (for itself) of being attracted to trees of the palm family for its food, the palm nuts.

Though there is no documented evidence that the mean-spirited bushmaster will actually chase people, its scientific name, lachesis muta, translates as, “silent fate,” which pretty much says enough. The Spanish name, matabuey, means “he kills oxen.” This should confer sufficient respect for the power of the bushmaster’s venom and the nature of their personality. They are known to be quick to coil and quick to strike, unlike most other snakes that will give more warning. Snakes can strike from as far away as about half their own length, so should you be so fortunate as to see a bushmaster, it is a good idea to give a large one an extremely wide berth.

Almost all of Costa Rica’s dangerous snakes are nocturnal and prefer to be quite secretive in their habits. In other words, they like to be left alone. If they feel you coming their way by picking up the vibrations through the earth, they will silently move out of your range of sight. Taking this into account and coupling it with the facts that most snakes are extremely well camouflaged and unlikely to even be moving during the day means that most visitors to the jungle will not ever see a dangerous snake.

You are probably right though in thinking that any time you are in the jungle is a good time to keep your awareness level high, as danger is always a possibility here. There are no “dangerous intersection” signs, no flashing lights, no guardrails; you get seemingly no warning or advance notice to catch your attention or let you know that danger in some form is near. You must rely upon your senses. You like the feeling of being self reliant. Alex’s admonition at the beginning of today’s walk is starting to make more sense to you. “Never place your hand or foot somewhere you cannot see first.” You simply have to pay attention.

With each experience today you are cataloguing hundreds of new sensations, and your overall awareness level is growing rapidly. Your brain is working overtime, and once in a while you realize that you are putting too much attention into thinking about what already happened and not enough into about what is currently happening. You begin to wish that you had spent more time in the past heightening your senses and regret the time you have spent purposely dulling them in your life.
You attempt to become more discerning, but it seems that everything is just an incomprehensible sea of green here. Never before have you seen so many shades or shapes in green, you think. Never before have you noticed so much, or needed to. All your senses are becoming more sharp and alert. You like the fact that while you walk through the jungle you must rely on your senses of smell and hearing along with your vision and realize that in our modern society we have de-emphasized the importance of these senses, thus dulling them. You notice that your guides are reacting to smells and sounds that you have not as yet even learned to discern, let alone be able to interpret them.

There are many opportunities for you to hone your new awareness skills. Various landscape obstacles challenge you from the front, offering you problem-solving challenges simply to cover the terrain. The earth itself continually poses footing impediments below and you play with improving your peripheral vision without stumbling too badly. Thorns of all types threaten to grab you from the sides. As you avoid most and get caught by a few, you realize that your kinesthetic awareness needs improvement. You suddenly realize that there is always the possibility that an ocelot or other wild cat could attack you from the rear and that keeping one eye looking back might be a good idea. You become a bit overwhelmed at the thought of an eyelash pit viper dropping down on you from the foliage above, thinking that you simply do not have enough awareness to protect yourself. Yet your entire perception and understanding of the jungle is changing for the better. You feel yourself growing. It is good to know, however, that you have a guide walking in front of your group and another ensuring your safety from the rear.

“Eat or Be Eaten.” That is the Law of the Jungle
As you walk along, minding your own business and somewhat lost in your own thoughts, you are brought back to the here and now when you hear a click in the bushes off to your right, and then another. You wonder to yourself if maybe there had been one or two before the ones you noticed. Then you notice that Alex has been standing still and pointing into the jungle. Peering through the brush, you see nothing, of course, nothing that is but more green through this, the fifth and lowermost layer of jungle canopy. How alert do you have to be, you wonder, to sense wildlife before it senses you? Your respect for the intelligence of the creatures of the jungle increases by yet another notch.

You are glad to be walking on a relatively open trail where you can easily see twenty feet or more in front of you before the trail curves away. You didn’t like the feeling of being totally enveloped, claustrophobically, by dense jungle. After walking a few more steps, an intense musky smell pervades the air, it is seemingly hanging everywhere. You wonder to yourself, “Could a plant produce such an aroma?” Alex is busy pointing out the details of the fresh tracks in the soft red clay trail, proof that something was just here. Alex assures you that at this very moment you are likely as close to “chanchas de montes,” wild mountain pigs, as you, a gringo, are ever going to get. These animals are also called “sainos.” In South Texas, they would be known as collared peccaries.
The clicks you heard were the peccary’s tusks clacking together as a warning sound. Their powerful tusks provide sufficient protection from even the most serious predators. Even efficient killers such as jaguars and cougars respect the sainos’ tusks. With their powerful molars, peccaries crush the hardest seeds and nuts. They are omnivorous, though they mostly rely upon their snouts to root into the earth in search of tubers, bulbs, and roots.

The sainos eat almost everything they want except for one delicacy, the rainforest yam, which they tend to totally avoid. This wild yam contains “pig progesterone.” The progesterone in the yam functions as a very effective form of birth control for the peccaries. If they eat the yam they cannot reproduce; their species would quickly die out. How the peccaries figured out this relationship remains a mystery. Eventually, rainforest yam was used in the production of the earliest forms of human birth control pills, as pig progesterone is almost identical to human progesterone.
For the peccaries, stealth is imperative to life itself, for they have been savagely hunted. They will usually hear or smell you long before you notice them and quietly move away into the safety of the underbrush. If conditions allow, you will likely see them before they see you, for their eyesight is not that good compared to ours. Should you ever have the rare opportunity to observe these wild mountain pigs, admire them from afar. They are dangerous if cornered and their bite can be lethal. The local people respect the sainos enough to automatically climb to the safety of the nearest tree should they accidentally encounter them, as these animals cannot climb trees or even jump.
The white-nosed coati, or pizote, whose long and sensitive nose tells it almost everything that it needs to know, has discovered that the foods of man is to its liking. With their ringed tails held out straight behind them, pizote troupes will raid fruit trees fearlessly and voraciously. Usually seen in family groups, these tree nesters are incredibly smart and have few natural enemies.

Many years in the past, men ate the pizote almost into extinction. Currently making a comeback, the pizote is quickly learning to live in coexistence with man. If you should happen upon a band of pizote, they will almost all come into view at once. Often they will surprise you as ten to fifteen of them drop out of a fruit tree and then all scatter in different directions. This escape technique usually makes it extremely difficult to focus on or single out even one of the quickly disappearing pizote. Should an inexperienced predator corner a coati, this exceptionally quick and agile creature will turn on its back and become a dangerously menacing array of sharp teeth and deep-cutting claws. Even predatory cats usually only prey on the youngest of pizote cubs, respecting the fierceness of the adults.

“Everything is a Part of Everything Anyway.” –Donovan
Hundreds of varieties of heliconias wave their colorful lobster claw flowers in an effort to gain the attention of a suitable insect pollinator. Passiflora, kudzu, mata palo, and traveler vines of every possible description run their random patterns throughout every layer of the canopy, seemingly stitching the forest together into one giant blanket. Mata palo vines will grow many hundreds of feet in length. These vines root in the treetops, in bits of accumulated dirt or animal feces. Wrapping themselves around branches and running from tree to tree, the incredibly strong mata palo vines literally strangle the life out of the trees and successfully compete with them for sunlight while connecting one tree to the next and the next and the next.

When one of the great three hundred-foot tall trees finally does succumb to the vines’ power and finally falls, the tensile strength of these vines almost guarantees that it will take several dozen others down with it. The noise of trees falling like huge dominoes can be heard for a great distance. The cracking, crashing sounds are unmistakable.

Cecropia trees, whose leaves are mistakenly believed to be the absolute favorite food of the ever-smiling two-toed and three-toed sloths, are always the first to grow in the sunny openings left behind by such “calamities” that actually encourage the jungle growth cycle to begin anew. In reality, the slow moving sloths eat the leaves of over ninety different trees and vines; it is just that in the cecropia trees they are more visible than in other trees. The sloths rely upon bacteria in their stomach to digest these leaves in much the same way that a cow relies upon bacteria to digest grass.
It is interesting that not all sloth eat the same mixture of leaves. They usually eat only about forty-five different plants out of the ninety, allowing for greater sloth population density. This is a good thing, for many researchers assert that sloths account for almost seventy per cent of the combined weight of all rainforest mammals. It is said that in an average square mile of rainforest sloths outnumber howler monkeys about ten to one.

Sloths normally have algae growing in grooves on their hair that is the food of the sloth moth. These moths lay their eggs in the feces of the sloth, which the sloth deposits, about once per week, at the base of the tree in which it is currently feeding, thus fertilizing the tree. When the eggs hatch, the hatchlings fly up the tree in search of a host sloth.

There are no true beginnings or endings to any of the jungle stories. Jungle life is perfectly cyclical. It always has been and, hopefully, always will be. It is only if we break the cycle that the sustainability of things in the jungle can be threatened. How do we measure the viability of any jungle ecosystem? By the health of its largest predators, the big cats. When these animals go into decline or extinction, the entire ecosystem is doomed to become unsustainable and enters into a spiral of failure.

Clear cutting the forest in order to make pasture for cattle was one of the biggest environmental mistakes ever made here in Costa Rica. More than half the land in Costa Rica was cleared before the error of this decision became clear. The trend today is reversed, with more land going back to jungle and less being used for grazing every year. It is hoped that within another decade only a small percent of Costa Rica’s total landmass will be used for livestock.

People thought that the jungle soil must be amazingly rich in order to support so much plant life. It turned out that this was not the case at all. In fact, almost all the nutrients of the rain forest are above ground, not below. The nutrients are tied up in existing life forms. Leaves often decay and have their raw materials utilized by other plants without ever reaching the ground. This is why the termites and ants are so important, because they speed the return to active use of fallen tree and leaves. Once cleared, cattlemen quickly learned that they could only get a few years of grazing out of forest land (3-5, usually) before it was totally used up and would no longer support pasture. It seems the original plan for this land was a very good one indeed.

Silent Giants, Straight and Tall
The buttress formation trees, of which there are many varieties, are a highlight for every gringo that enters the rainforest. These huge trees often rise more than two hundred feet straight upwards before branching. There is nothing like them in the States, though the cypress trees our southern swamps are a perhaps the closest miniature examples. The buttress trees roots are above ground, for the most part. Often five feet high and up to a foot in width, half a dozen of their gently winding five to fifteen foot long “buttress” roots support the entire tree, huge tendrils reminiscent of a giant’s feet.

Other trees sprout roots from their lowermost branches, fifty to one hundred feet above the ground, and drop them to earth like hundreds of tentacles. These powerful aerial roots sense the ground and split into dozens of rootlets when they reach about four to six inches above the earth. Eventually, they anchor the tree firmly to the ground with a visible vertical root system that can cover a circle of ground more than one hundred feet in diameter.

Direct sunlight very rarely reaches through the upper layers of the jungle canopy. In order for a tree to get sufficient sunlight, it must be able to compete, that is, to grow as tall or taller than the trees that surround it. Trees two to three hundred feet tall become the rule rather than the exception here. Costa Rica is famous for its beautiful indigenous hardwoods that are some of the most durable in the world. Even the termites do not eat the hardest woods. Some, like the ironwood, is so dense that it sinks rather than floating in water. Monglio is such a hard wood that if you strike it with a machete the machete will ring, loud and clear, but you will likely not even leave a mark in the wood. Hotel staircases made of this and other jungle hardwoods are often still in remarkably pristine condition after enduring fifty years of hard daily use.

In the jungle, everything is built for success, for in the jungle, survival is the prime directive. That which is healthy will tend to live a long life. Those plants that do not gain exposure to the conditions that they need in order to thrive are destined to be overrun by more vigorous species. Weak, infirm, lame, stupid or other animals that cannot compete with the pressure to survive quickly die off in this competitive environment.

Fruit trees are prolific in the wet forest, but most of the fruits are not the cultivated varieties that we are used to seeing in our grocery stores. Many of these fruits do not have as much sugar as those we are accustomed to, so do not taste as sweet. In their favor, they do have a much higher mineral to carbohydrate ratio than our domesticated fruits. The names are foreign to us. Monkey guava, ule, inga, ficus, and hundreds of other types of fruits grow here.

A visitor to the jungle will rarely see the fruit, however, as fruit is a popular food item here. Many birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and every mammal except the jaguar and the river otter are known to eat fruit. Fruit is easy to digest, plentifully available, highly nutritious, and, for most animals, deliciously tasty. Many insects prefer to eat rotting fruit, of which there is no shortage either.

When it comes to the task of spreading the fruit’s seeds, the animals almost all help the fruit trees. Some, like bats, move the fruit before eating it. Others eat the fruit but are themselves on the move, so they spread the seed and plant it in a fertile fecal mass. The number of seed spreading animals far outweighs the number of seed destroyers such as the peccary. The slow growing hardwoods are few and far between in the jungle whereas the majority of the jungle’s trees produce some type of fruit. The trees themselves may be silent giants but you cannot help but notice that the fruit-eating birds are singing with delight.

The Hills are Alive…
Ants, ants, ants, ants, and still even more ants; there are more variations on the Costa Rican ant theme than anyone ever imagined possible. Ants are simply a fact of life here. Grab a branch for support while walking down a steep hill and you are likely to be attacked by the ants that call that particular tree their own. Open a piece of fruit anticipating a delicious treat but do not be surprised if instead you find that the ants have already beaten you to it and come speedily running out by the hundreds. Check your seat for ants before you sit down and come to expect that a few ants will crawl on you while you remain seated. You are as likely to find ants inside your home as outside and it seems you must simply make peace with the fact that there is little you can do about it.
Ants are ever present here. There is nowhere you can go to get away from them, nor would you really want to, for ants are the ultimate “cleaner uppers.” Should a breadcrumb fall to the ground, the ants will remove it. If an insect dies in your home, the ants will dismember it and take it to their home for supper. If while you are cutting fruit, some of its juice splashes onto a counter, wall, or floor, you can count on the ants to clean up every drop. There is simply no point in fighting them.
After all, the ants were here first, and there are way more of them than there are of us. Once, when learning the names of the various creatures in Costa Rica, I asked the Spanish word for ant, as one was crawling on a nearby branch. My teacher, a local Tico man, told me the Spanish word for ant is “hormiga” and then asked a bilingual friend of mine a question in Spanish that I did not understand. My friend laughed and answered, again in Spanish. When I queried him about the conversation he said with a chuckle, “He wanted to know if there are ants in the United States.” Many of the people of Uvita have never been more than about 40 miles from home. Some have never left town.

It is said that the world’s ant population outweighs the world’s human population. A column of millions of “army” ants, six inches wide and over one hundred feet long, marches in orderly fashion towards its next target on the jungle floor. It will kill its prey very efficiently using its highly successful swarming technique. Even small bodies of water prove no impediment to army ants, as they will form “living bridges” of themselves, piling one upon another until they have completely bridged the gap and sufficient numbers can cross the water obstacle.

Bullhorn acacia trees cannot survive the intense competition of jungle life without the assistance of the specific ant that lives in its huge hollow thorns, which look like a miniature bull’s horn. The bullhorn acacia ants prevent competition and give their tree and advantage by keeping all other plants from growing in the area around the acacia, and clearing any debris that may land on the tree. This gives it the best possible chance for obtaining food and light. Dare to touch the tree and within seconds you will be covered by thousands of viciously biting kamikaze ants. Of course, the bullhorn acacia is the only place in the entire jungle that makes acceptable housing for these specific ants. In this case, the symbiosis so evident to life in the jungle, is mutual, and is accordingly called mutualism. For some reason, the ants tolerate and even protect the nests of four specific birds should they choose to build a nest in the acacia tree: orioles, great kiskadees, yellow-olive flycatchers, and rufous-naped wrens.

Who Invited You to Our Picnic, Stupid Ants?
Leaf cutter ants live in underground colonies of five to ten million individuals. They each have a specialty area though most are common worker ants and there is only one queen. Ten million ants can strip a tree of its leaves in very short order. Walk past a tree that is being worked on by leaf cutters and it will seem to be snowing green bits of leaf matter. Only relatively few ants actually make the tedious climb up the trees to cut the leaves into portable pieces. Most of the ants spend all day long collecting and carrying bits of leaf matter back to their underground nest.

Specifically designated “farmer” ants take the leaf matter and arrange it into compost piles that will grow mold. The entire colony feeds on the mold, not upon the leaves themselves. Different types of leaves are required to keep the compost mixture just right so that the type and quantity of mold produced remains relatively constant, as it has been for centuries. The farmer ants easily convey the message of what type of leaf they currently want to the cutter ants, and the workers tirelessly bring it to them. How they know which leaf will “sweeten” their mold-heap and how they communicate their message remains a mystery. Apparently ants aren’t all that stupid after all.
Some ants have a preference for simple carbohydrates such as those found in fruit, others prefer a diet that is more based upon fats. Either way, it is obvious that there is plenty of food for the ants, for they are thriving here. It is almost impossible, if you bother to look, not to have ants in sight.
There are ants so small that you can hardly notice them with the naked eye and others that are large enough that they command your respect simply for their impressive size. Ants leave a scent trail when they travel. That is how, when you watch the leaf cutters in action, they all manage to follow the same path over and over again, they are simply following the scent.

Many ant species have but one queen per colony. Others, such as the pesky red fire ant, maintain multiple queens. Also, most ant colonies use one hole as an entrance and exit. The fire ants have multiple entrance and exit ways. Multiple queens and multiple exits raises this ants’ chances for survival immensely. Fire ant populations are on the rise in most places.

Of specific concern for the ants are the anteaters, of which three of the world’s four species live in Costa Rica. The giant anteater, a ground dweller that is over six feet long, is extremely rare. The infrequently seen silky anteater, only seven inches long with a prehensile tail that is equally as long so that it can hang by its tail and access termitaries (termite homes), is a nocturnal tree dweller. The northern tamandua is about two feet long and also has a tail as long as its body. It is active both in the day and at night and is as commonly found on the ground as in trees making it the only one of the these three toothless animals that visitors to the forest are likely to see.

The anteater shape is unmistakable. If you have ever seen a picture of an anteater, with its long tubular snout, you will instantly recognize it should you ever see one in the wild. It is not typical for anteaters to attack the colonies of ants that might sting or harm the anteater. With strong claws and long snout they can easily enter the ant colony and then stick their long tongue, coated in sticky saliva, in even deeper. For the anteaters, the best thing about ants is that they live in such large colonies, making every encounter with them a picnic.

Super Athletes on a Magic Carpet Ride
Did you know that some ants can fly without wings? Well, almost. At the end of a hard day of cutting leaves, often sometimes several hundred feet up in a tree, the cutter ants simply cut the leaf they are standing upon and free it from its stem. They then “float” all the way down and eventually make a gentle landing upon the ground. This little trick belies an intelligence in ants that we have yet to comprehend.

How hard working are the leaf cutters? The workers often transport a piece of leaf that weighs up to double their own weight. If their speed was measured in human scale, the ants would be running along the uneven jungle floor at speeds of over fifteen miles per hour. This equates to a human being running at a four-minute mile pace while carrying a pack that weighs as much as he does! The leaf cutter worker ants manage to perform this incredible feat for close to twelve hours per day, every single day from the day they are old enough to begin until they can no longer continue.
From the temperature controlled underground cities that the ants build to their tireless industriousness, ants must be considered superbeings. Cities of ten million ants maintain themselves without one unemployed individual. Their complex societies function flawlessly. It seems that in terms of strength, speed, endurance and social structure we are simply no match for the lowly ant.

Mighty ‘Mites
Ants so tiny that they are difficult to see with the naked eye have no fear of biting the heck out of your behind should you dare to sit on them. Bull carpenter ants, a full inch and more in length and proportioned much like their powerful namesake, have the mandibular equipment and the accompanying appetite to literally eat your house down to the ground. Red ants, brown ants, black ants, skinny ants, long ants, bullet ants (so named because that is how much their bite hurts); there seems to be no end on the ant theme. Ants would appear to run the jungle show, for they are unstoppable in their mission, until you look up into the trees and notice the termites.

Termites, locally known as “comehenes,” or “the eaters,” are not so obvious to the naked eye as the ants. They build their own hidden tunnels in which to travel from point A, their home, to point B, their food. They are the ultimate jungle recyclers, however, and if your home is not made of sufficiently hard wood or other termite impermeable materials, they will voraciously and efficiently consume it.

Jungle termite homes are built in the trees, where they are relatively safe from predators except for anteaters and where they will stay dry even in the flooding rains. They build their houses in a fashion similar to bees and wasps, but immensely more intricate and fine. Their black, oval home appears much like a cubic foot or more of pumice has been mounted onto a tree branch two to ten feet above the ground. Walk through the jungle and you will quickly see that termite houses abound.

Termites are thriving in the jungle. Build a house of wood and the termites will quickly claim it. It will not take them long to consume it. One would start to think that along with ants, these industrious recyclers would soon take over the world. Fortunately you remember that not just one but three different types of anteaters live here too, and they love to eat termites as well as ants.

Nature shows no mercy and knows nothing of good or evil. The hunter very quickly becomes the hunted in this unforgiving environment. Today’s diner may well be tomorrow’s dinner. Out here, it is strictly about survival. Termites hasten the transition of nutrients from downed trees back into living trees, an important function.

Were it not for termites, much of the natural jungle ecology would collapse. We can understand that the best barometer for determining the health of any area of jungle is measured by the health of the large cats. It is the termites, however, that make much of jungle life possible, for without them, so much of the jungle’s nutrients would be tied up in dead wood that jungle life as we know it could no longer exist.

Like the bacteria that finish the job of turning powdered wood back into its primary nutrients, these voracious little wood-eaters perform the vital task. While their mission in life and ours may seem to conflict now and then, if we step back and look at the bigger picture it is easy to see that we are all in the same boat. (Yes, given time, the darn termites will likely even eat the boat.)

Don’t Get Stuck
It seems the jungle has no end of sharp and pointy objects. Animals are armed with razor sharp teeth and claws but it is the plants that really put on the show when it comes to showing off the full potential inherent in their fangs. Never before have you appreciated the efficiency of spines, spikes, spicules, hooks, barbs, snags, needles, thorns, quills, prickles, briars, brambles, stickles, stiff hairs, and thistles. In the jungle, where virtually all aspects of life are utilitarian, “points” of various shapes and sizes always serve a purpose. Let’s get right to the point.

They protect some plants, effectively making them almost completely unapproachable. This is the case of the venerated pehibaye, a palm whose delicious, high carbohydrate nut has long served as a staple food in Costa Rica. For countless centuries, the number of pehibaye trees they maintained determined a tribe’s richness and hence the respect they were given by neighboring tribes.
One control technique used by the invading Spaniards when they came to the New World in order to dominate the local populations was to cut down all the pehibaye trees. This caused the indigenous people to become dependent upon the Spaniards for a viable food source, which the Spaniards would supply in trade for the precious metals and gems they so dearly wanted.

The pehibaye tree-trunk, branches, leaves and all-are coated by a luxurious mat made up of millions of hypodermic-like spines that are armed with a powerful neurotoxin. “A pehibaye leaf fell on a co-worker’s shoulder embedding several hundred spines. We spent an hour pulling them all out. Since that time, he has not been able to move his arm for over three months,” said Siggy, a zoologist friend of mine.

How does one obtain the highly prized pehibaye nut? Extremely carefully. Using a very long stick or bamboo pole it is possible to jolt an entire raceme of pehibaye nuts free from their perch. If they are extremely high up in the tree, you would be wise to put a mattress on the ground at their expected landing site so that they do not all crush upon impact. One must be extremely careful even when collecting the pehibaye from the ground as the spines simply show no mercy to humans.

When you have finally unseated a raceme of pehibaye and they start to fall to the ground, it is wise to quickly scramble out of range. It is a good idea to have mapped your retreat out in advance, by the way. You definitely do not want to get stuck by pehibaye branches that have already fallen or lose your footing as you run. Do not underestimate the strength or virulence of the pehibaye needles. They will easily penetrate your sneakers and puncture your skin. Rubber boots will usually stop the needles but there is not much else that will do the job. When you are in the vicinity of a pehibaye palm, remember to step carefully.

Pehibaye nuts are traditionally eaten cooked, boiled for several hours in salty water much like is done with peanuts in our southern states. The outer shell is quite easy to peel once the nut has been cooked. Served in this fashion, they are considered quite a delicacy. Though they are edible raw, they certainly are nothing to write home about when eaten in “au natural.” Many people find them irritating to the inside of the mouth in their raw state and the rest of the way through their digestive system for that matter. There are not many people who will venture to eat raw pehibaye more than once or twice.

Palmito trees were the original plants harvested for their yield of hearts of palm. They require the shade of the upper canopy in order to thrive. Still, they grow sparsely in the jungle, and never in groves. This jungle delicacy is immensely delicious when eaten fresh.

Today, pehibaye trees are planted in plantations to provide hearts of palm on a commercial scale, as they produce an edible, if not as delectable a heart, and a bit more rapidly. Unfortunately, one must kill the tree in order to obtain the two-foot long, one-inch diameter heart. On Cuentos de Ballenas farm, you are told, ten palmito trees are planted for every one that is harvested.

One more point of interest (pun intended) about spines. Jungles and infections seem to go hand in hand. This is especially true for visitors. The fewer punctures you experience, the better. It is a good idea not to handle the thin black spines of the pehibaye. They are extremely unforgiving and seem to prefer to break off under your skin to any other course of action. For some obscure reason, accidents happen more often than you would think, even to those who have been forewarned.

The Plant Version of “Tooth and Nail”
Some plants use their spines as sensors, making it possible for them to know when they have been touched. The plant response to touch is different for every plant. There are plants that respond to the sense of touch by closing around their prey and eventually consuming it. Some plants respond by reducing the hydrostatic pressure in the outer parts, thus folding in upon themselves and reducing their likelihood of sustaining injury or having a branch broken off by a passerby.

One such plant, the sensitive plant, is common in Costa Rica. The sensitive plant is a small bushy groundcover plant that has multiple branches each with numerous flat droplet-shaped leaves. This plant is extremely willing to demonstrate its powerful hydraulic capabilities in response to even the slightest “improper” touch. If you stroke the foot high plant gently, it does not seem to respond at all. If you touch it even a bit more abruptly, however, or in a direction that threatens to bend a branch, it will instantaneously reduce sufficient water pressure to the touched branch so that the leaves and the branch seemingly wilt. In reality the plant has not wilted, but simply folded closed into itself, making a tight, safe package. It is great fun to play with this “smart” plant and many tourists are intrigued by its apparent intelligence.

Still other plants respond to touch by touching back, often grasping the toucher rather aggressively. There are other plants that use more of the porcupine’s approach, releasing toxic hypodermics into the visitor should one be so naïve as to come close enough to touch its spines. Many plants send irritating or toxic chemicals to the part being touched. This technique highly discourages animals from eating the leaves of such plants.

The use of hooked protrusions in order to climb, or to ensnare food, is common among plants. Seeds are often armed with multiple miniature pins, hairs, or snags for them to “hitchhike” a ride with any passerby, hopefully to find fertile ground elsewhere. This method often allows plants to spread over very long distances, often even from continent to continent.

Hooks, barbs, and brambles effectively grasp their prey and even rip off bits of flesh, always earning newfound respect for the plant in question. Plants use stickles, thorns, and snags to grip their next purchase and grow up their host’s side. Besides giving painful reminders that these plants are not to be touched, many spines, needles and quills deliver paralyzing neuro-toxins, flesh dissolving proteolytic enzymes and even breath-stopping histamines. If you are not sure, it is a good rule to look but don’t touch any plant that seems even remotely pointy unless you are the type who is willing to learn “the hard way.”

Tell a Lie or Die
Walk along an open jungle trail or corridor and you will occasionally see a brilliant flash of phosphorescent sapphire blue. It disappears as suddenly as it appears, only to be seen again in a few seconds, ten feet down the path. This is the magnificent morpho butterfly, one of the largest of all butterflies. Its “flash and dazzle” technique makes it difficult for predators to actually pinpoint its location and is used as a safety device to prevent birds and others from eating it.

Many creatures use this and other types of misdirection. Some butterflies have large, realistic looking “eyes” designed into their wings, making them look as though they were actually large predators themselves. This type of camouflaged look that will deter attack from many types of birds. Many “tasty” insects, snakes, frogs and others creatures look almost exactly like their noxious cousins, affording them a level of safety from predation not available to others that are more easily identified.

The “walking stick” insect, when not actually moving, looks so like a twig that most of the time even humans do not notice it at all. More than one type of bug looks identical to the droppings of different types of birds, an excellent camouflage indeed. Flocks of birds, schools of fish, and many herds of animals all depend on the safety of numbers to deter predators. This technique works in many ways. Not only is it difficult to pick out a single animal amongst the many, but often the entire group can appear much more menacing than one individual.

The caterpillars of various butterflies look so like the plant upon which they are feeding as to become almost invisible. Many jungle creatures are armed with “bluffing” apparatus, allowing them to look, sound or smell more menacing than they truly are. The raising of hair on the back is one such mammalian technique, as is raising up on hind legs to appear larger.

The six-inch smoky jungle frog, the second largest amphibian in Costa Rica, has two interesting defense strategies. First, if attacked, its skin secretes a very irritating toxin that causes its predator to almost immediately drop it and reconsider. Meanwhile, the frog makes a loud scream that somehow manages to bring caimans, close relatives of the crocodile, running to the area. An approaching caiman is enough to scare off just about any predator, and fortunately for the frogs, the caimans do not seem interested in eating smoky jungle frogs. Sometimes a good defense is more successful and involves far less effort than a powerful offense.

Hmmm, What Was That?
In the back of your mind, you thought you heard a noise, a low whirring sound, but it has already stopped. Turn to look and, almost guaranteed, there is nothing there. That was probably a cinnamon hummingbird, the “guriones”. Costa Rica boasts one of the world’s largest natural collections of hummers; over fifty of the world’s three hundred thirty s