Reptiles and Amphibians

Endemic Species consist of 44 species of amphibians and 17 of reptiles.  Even in their own classifications, there is great diversity amoungst all of the different creatures.

Costa Rican Reptiles

Sea turtles

For a country with two oceans it is imperative to mention the sea turtles. Five species of sea turtles nest in the Costa Rican beaches. The olive ridley turtle (tortuga lora in Spanish, Lepidochelys olivacea) nests on the Pacific coast; the loggerhead turtle (tortuga cabezona, Caretta caretta) visits the Caribbean coast but does not reproduce in Costa Rica; and the green turtle (tortuga verde, Chelonia mydas), the leatherback turtle or Baula (Dermochelys coriacea), and the hawksbilled turtle (tortuga carey, Eretmochelys imbricata)  nest on both coasts. Costa Rica protects some of the world’s most important nesting beaches for these species. On the Pacific coast, the Nancite and Naranjo beaches in the Santa Rosa National Park as well as the Ostional Wildlife Refuge protect the nesting sites for the olive ridley turtle. The olive ridley turtles have a particular behavior for nesting, because large numbers of turtles arrive to the beach during three or four days, in a phenomenon called “arribada”. The arribadas occur at waning moon, and the largest numbers of turtles visit the beaches between July and December. However, olive ridley turtles can also nest solitary, and visit several beaches in the Pacific coast. Then, the Playa Grande at Las Baulas Marine National Park is another important nesting site in the Pacific coast for the leatherback turtle. These gigantic turtles nest in Playa Grande from October to February.  The green turtles nest sporadically on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica but their main nesting site is Tortuguero National Park in the Caribbean coast. The nesting season for the green turtle is from July to October, and peaks in August. All the species of sea turtles are in risk of extinction, and several ONG’s work in behalf of these reptiles and the marine life, such as PRETOMA, Fundación Keto, Corporación Caribeña de Conservación (CCC) and MarViva.

Best months to watch turtles nesting in the beach:

P= Pacific, C= Caribbean. + = turtles arriving, ++= peak of arrival. Letters on top represent the months.

Snakes

Most of the Costa Rican snakes are not venomous.  The majority of them belong to the Colubridae family, and are important to control insect and rodent populations. Some of them are arboreous, mimicking vines on the trees and shrubs while others are more terrestrial, and include the huge constrictor boas (Boa constrictor) in the Boidae family.  The poisonous snakes are classified in three families: Viperidae, Elapidae (Coral snake, Micrurus nigrocinctus) and Hydrophidae (Pelagic sea snake, Pelamis platurus).  The Viperidae family includes 12 species of venomous snakes, such as the fer-de-lance (terciopelo, Bothrops asper), and the bushmaster (matabuey, Lachesis muta) whose name in Spanish mean the bull killer. The UCR has an Institute for the research of the snake venoms, called Instituto Clodomiro Picado, where the snakes are kept in captivity to develop antivenoms to treat human snakebites, and research about the venom properties and effects is performed. According to this Institute, the best thing that you can do if a snakes bites you, is go directly to the hospital. Here you may receive the antivenoms, after an allergy test. Do not suck, cut or tie the area of the snakebite because it could cause more damage to the tissue, and won’t help to stop the venom effects at all. Fortunately, in Costa Rica you don’t need to know the species of the snake that bit you, because there is a polyvalent antivenom (works for all pit viper bites), except in the case of a coral snake (which are brightly colored with red, yellow and black bands, and tend to "chew" you rather than bite you in the traditional manner.  An anticoral antivenom should be administred). You’ll find valuable information about snakebites and production of the antiophidic serum (antivenom) at the Instituto Clodomiro Picado website.

Lizards

The lizards selection includes the common lizards, gekkos, iguanas and the basilisks. The iguanas are probably the easiest to see, not only in the forest, but crossing the streets on near people houses. They could be bright green and large (Iguana, Iguana iguana) or black and beige, with a stripe pattern in the tail and smaller size (garrobo, Ctenosaura similis). Some other easily seen lizards are the Ameiva lizards and the Norops lizards. Near the water (streams, rivers or ponds) is quite easy to see a particular lizard called basilisks. They also receive the name of Jesus lizard because of the ability to walk (or run) over the water, a strategy regularly used to escape from predators.

Crocodiles

Two species of crocodiles occur in Costa Rica: the Crocodylus acutus (En: American crocodile, Spanish: Cocodrilo), and the Caiman crocodylus (En: Spectacled caiman, Sp: caimán). The first is the largest, and the adult males can reach 7 m length. Probably the best place to see crocodiles in Costa Rica is in the Bridge over the Tárcoles River (Puntarenas) close to Carara National Park, or in a boat tour along the Tempisque River. Here most of the crocodiles are about 5 or 6 meter length. The caiman is also common but less impressive size-wise than the crocodiles.

Costa Rican Frogs

Because the other Costa Rican amphibians are quite rare or difficult to see in the field, here only the frogs are explained in more detail. The frogs include also the toads; this is an artificial classification but in general toads have their skin drier and with more warts than the frogs. The largest toad is the cane toad or marine toad (Bufo marinus) and is very common in the forest and especially in the urban environments. They release venom when threatened.  Often, inexperienced and curious animals can be poisoned by these toads. Then, the largest frog is the Smokey Jungle Frog (Rana ternero, Leptodactylus pentadactylus), a relatively common and really huge frog (about 18 cm length). Among the most attractive species of frogs are the red-eyed frog (rana calzonuda, Agalychnis callidryas) the colored frog used in many T-shirts and souvenirs. Less well known by visitors than the red-eyed frog (but not less beautiful) are the glass frogs. These are small frogs living in the leaves of the trees with an almost transparent skin with beautiful pale green patterns and amazing eyes. Other famous frogs are the poison-dart frogs, easily seen by most of the people because they are diurnal, and the males defend their territory by singing constantly and loudly. Some of them are blue or green and red or completely red (Blue-jeans frog, Oophaga pumilio or Oophaga granuliferus) and others are black and green (green poison-dart frog, Oophaga auratus).

Sources: Janzen, D.H. 1991. Historia Natural de Costa Rica. EUCR.   Savage,
Programa de Restauración de Tortugas Marinas Pretoma website: