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Bridging a Costa Rican cloud forest A Species List for the Chirripó Cloudbridge Reserve Project
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The Cloudbridge Reserve Project
Listing of Local Fauna
These species have been seen (or their presence
confirmed) on the Reserve
| Species | Common Names | Remarks |
| Tapirus bairdii | Baird's tapir (danta) |  Although
their stout body superficially makes them look like pigs, and their
short fleshy proboscis (trunk) makes these animals resemble anteaters,
they are not closely related to either of these groups. In
fact, their closest evolutionary cousins among living mammals are
rhinoceroses. Listed as "endangered" by the IUCN.
We've found tapir tracks in the forest above Cloudbridge South Meadow.Links: digimorph.org/resources/tapirs.phtml |
| Tayassu pecari; Tayassu tajacu | White-lipped peccary; Collared peccary |  Like their cousins the pigs, peccaries are short, stout
animals with coarse, bristly hair and large heads. They have long
snouts
that sport a hard, disk-shaped nose pad used for rooting around for
tubers. Peccaries and their tracks have been seen in different parts of the Reserve. Not sure which species.Links: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fossilhall/Library/Peccary/peccary.htm |
| Ateles geoffroyi | Spider monkey (mono colorado) |  The large, loose-limbed spider monkey--the supreme
acrobat of
the forest--was once the most widespread of the Central American
monkeys. Unfortunately, they are very sensitive to human intrusion and
are among the first primate species to decline with disturbance.
Land clearance and hunting--their flesh is said to be very tasty--have
greatly reduced spider monkey populations throughout much of their
former range.The spider monkeys, as well as Capuchin monkeys, have been seen in various parts of the reserve, including the forest across from the Casa. Links: www.szgdocent.org/pp/p-spdr.htm animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/ateles/a._paniscus.html |
| Eira barbara | Tayra |  The
sleek, long-haired chocolate-brown tayra--a meter-long giant of the
weasel family--is often seen in highland habitats throughout Costa
Rica. Weighing up to 10 pounds, the tayra habitually preys on rodents.
It may be seen on the ground or in trees. Tayras, including the one at right, have been seen near Casa Amanzimtoti.Links: www.cptigers.org/animals/tayra.html animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/eira/e._barbara$narrative.html |
| Chamaepetes unicolor |
Black Guan (pava negra) |
 The Black Guan is
distinguished by its large size, shiny black plumage and bright blue
facial markings. This member of the Turkey family prefers mountainous
regions in Costa Rica and Western Panama. Typically it is
found eating fruits both in trees and on the ground especially from
palms
and Lauraceae. It makes its nests from epiphytes in large cloudforest
trees.Links: |
| Various bats | Bats |  The
country's most numerous mammals by far are the bats, found
throughout Costa Rica. One may come across them slumbering by day
halfway
up a tree. They are inactive before and after a full moon.The bats on the right are tent bats, which like to sleep during the day in a folded banana leaf, which they engineer by biting and scratching along the main leaf vein until it loses its ability to stay unfolded. |
| Atta sexdens | Leaf-cutter ants (atta) |  Leaf cutter ants carry vegetation that can weigh more
than 10 times their own weight for a distance up to 150 meters, back to
their nest. The worker ants then chew the leaf and mix it with saliva
to create a substrate that feeds a fungus culture—their main food. Links: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/atta/a._sexdens$narrative.html |
| Others |
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|---|---|
| Species |
Frequency |
| Black snake (rat snake) | sometimes |
| Atropoides nummifer (jumping pit viper) |
rare |
| Lizards (spp unknown) | frequent |
| Anole (spp unknown) | sometimes |
| Brown frog (spp unknown) | rare |
| Potos flavus (Kinkajou) | sometimes |
| Cebus capucinus (White-faced Capuchin monkey) | rare |
| Agouti paca (Tepisquintle) | rare |
| Nasua narica (Pizote, coati) | frequent |
| Sciurus granatensis (Red-tailed squirrel) | very frequent |
| Daspus novemcinctus (9-banded armadillo) | sometimes |
| Odocoileus virginianus? (Cabrio, white-tailed deer) | rare |
| Puma concolor (cougar, mountain lion) |
rare |
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Copyright ©2006 Ian Giddy. All rights reserved. Last revised May 3 2006
