The art of metamorphosis in nature

Ssssshhhh be quiet please!!! Our little buddies are taking a nap!!Who would guess that these creepy looking caterpillars would eventually become a beautiful butterfly?? Well, that's part of the magic of nature. These are caterpillars of a Caligo or Cream Owl Butterfly, which is one of the biggest in the rainforest, with a wingspan of 20 centimeters and a lifespan of 3 months. Wow!! that's a long life considering that most butterflies live only a few weeks ( the blue morpho for example lives 3 weeks) This caterpillars have a voracious appetite, to the point that they can be a major problem in banana plantations for example. The adult butterfly feeds mostly on rotten fruit and is active at night, that where its name Caligo comes from, since it means darkness in latin. We can't wait to see our little friends turn into a beautiful butterfly!!! We just have to be patient!!

The importance of Bambu

One of the bigger issues right now regarding building materials is what to use that leaves a shallower footprint.
Concrete takes a lot of energy to make, plastic is really bad for the enviroment, and even certified wood is not that great since it takes a while to harvest( about 15 years for teak wood for example) so by the time the wood is ready to be cut down, it is already and ecosystem, with birds and other animals living on it, that is why the wood plantations are known as green desserts!!. So, what can we use that is the less harmful to the enviroment?? Well, the Asian people have probably had the answer to this question for towsend of years. Bamboo grows really fast, as much as 3 inches every day or 10 centimeters!! In 4 or 5 years they are ready to harvest, and one of the best things about it is that you don't have to cut down the whole plant, you can just trim it off which also is really good for it since it can grow faster.
Countries like Ecuador and Colombia have a huge bamboo culture, there are even "Shamans" of the bamboo construction over there. In El Salvador, Bambu was used to build homes for people that lost their houses on hurricanes. The variety of bambu Guadua is been called "vegetable steel" by engineers due to its resistance to earthquakes and the Chinese consider it a symbol of wisdom. So if are thinking about building, consider using bamboo, the enviroment will highly appreciate it.

The cute little monkeys!!

Arenas del Mar reserve is truly a paradise for all kinds of animals. Planting so many fruit trees on the property was certainly a great idea!! This shows in the wide variety of birds and monkeys that visit us often. The monkey in the picture is a red backed squirrel monkey, and the only two places in Costa Rica where you can find them are here and in the Osa peninsula. They are omnivorous, feeding mostly on fruits and insects, also, this is the only species of monkey in Costa Rica that doesn't have a prehensile tail. They live in troops with up to 20 individuals, and when traveling they have a sharp call that makes them sound like a small bird. This variety of monkey are now beeing studied in England because they develop a variety of cancer, but it never kills the animal, so, they want to see if they can find a cure for this desease in humans. Isn't interesting?? Maybe one day our little friends will help us save many lives!! That's why in Arenas del Mar, we want to make sure this little guys have a place to live by preserving the forest around us!! Thanks to all those visitors that help us save our precious rainforest!!!

Hej, would you like to be my friend??

If you come to Costa Rica and forget your alarm clock, that's not a problem... the howler monkeys will wake you up at 3: 00 am... Too early?? Well, anyway, you can just grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy the sunnrise!! This big male howler monkey that you see in the picture was cought up just walking across the employes dinning area.
I guess he just wanted to show off!! Howler monkeys travel in troops of 15 to 20 individuals, they are vegetarians feeding mostly on leaves and flowers, and this is the reason why they are the only primate of the new world that sees color.
The males are the only ones that howl, and the sound can be heard as far as a kilometer( or half a mile)away. Wow!!! That's a lot of noise for an animal that is only about the size of a cat( 3-6 kilos, or 7-13 pounds). This incredible mammals feed on specific fruits and leaves from primary forest trees, that's why is so important to preserve the forest where they live, to make sure that we will keep hearing the incredible sound of the howler monkeys. Thanks again to all those around the world that help us everyday to save our beautiful rainforest!!!!

Stars are on the sky...ups!!! Not this one!!

You can not imagine the amount of interesting creatures you can find on the tide pools around Arenas del Mar Hotel, just check out this one!!
This is a fragile starfish, this weird looking animal lives right under the rocks at the Playitas beach, they feed on detritus which basically is sand. What?? Did I say sand?? How can anybody survive just on eating sand?? Well, they filter little particules of fitoplancton that get stock on the little sand grains, so , that´s how they do it!!
Some thing really interesting about fragile starfish is their capability to regenerate their limbs, also, if you cut up a starfish in several pieces everyone of them would become a new individual!! Isn´t that amazing?? Please help us preserve this amazing animals by not throwing garbage on the beach neither the ocean, we want this guys to have a nice and clean home!! Thank you!!

Hej, I just had a bite to eat of a delicious piece of clay

One of the most common animals to see at Arenas del Mar, is the three toad sloth. That's why today we want to dedicate a few minutes to talk about this bizarre animal. Three toad sloths are animals with very slow metabolism, the average temperature of them is about 20 celsius, which makes it the living mammal with the coolest blood temperature. They feed mostly on leaves and flowers, and they can get their food from more than 90 diffrent species of trees. These, protect themselves with poison in the leaves that the sloth also eats, so, they come down once or twice a week to the ground to eat cley . Mmm!! sounds tasty!! Give me some of that, I have a stomach ache!! The three toad sloth is also a master of hidding, they grow a special type of mold in their fur that makes it even harder to spot when up on a tree. I dare you to find one by yourself !!!

What time is it please?

We were walking down the Manuel Antonio National Park, near the end of the Perezozo trail we spotted this Sand Clock frog or Hyla ebraccata. This specie of frog lives up on bromelias as high as 20 meters above the ground, that makes it really hard to find unless you are a really good climber!!

That day we were lucky to find it jus 1.5 meters off the ground. This frog is only about 5 centimeters long and it feeds mostly on insects. Frogs like this one, are indicators of enviromental disorders in the planet, such as the ozone layer hole, this situation has triggered the growing of a fungus in their skins that can wipe out a whole specie of frog. This, we think, happened with the Golden Toad up in the cloud forest of Costa Rica. Another big reason why is important to preserve the rainforest of the world, all this little guys need the canopy of the trees as a shelter to protect them from extintion. Thanks to all those that help us save the rainforest and our little colorful friends. !!!