Costa Rica's Geography
The beautiful country of Costa Rica is also one of the smallest countries in Central America, at the third smallest. The country of Costa Rica has a land area of 19 730 square miles or 51 100 square kilometers. Costa Rica borders Nicaragua in the north, Panama in the south east, Caribbean sea to the north east and the South Pacific Ocean to the south west. The Caribbean coast is extremely small at just 100 miles or 160 kilometers long although the pacific coastline is a whopping 300 miles or 480 kilometers long. To The beautiful country of Costa Rica features volcanoes, beaches, thousands of species, many waterways and most of all many high and low elevation landscapes.
Mountains and Volcanoes
The country of Costa Rica is well known for their mountainous terrain. There are many volcanoes and mountains all across the country in different locations ranging from high elevation and low elevation. Below are the most popular mountains and volcanoes.
Arenal Volcano
The Arenal Volcano, located in Alajuela Costa Rica is the most well known volcano in the country.The Arenal Volcano is one of the most popular tourists destinations in all of Costa Rica, and also one of the tallest points of elevation in all of the country at 1670 meters above sea level. Last erupted in 2010 the Arenal Volcano caused devastation to the surrounding wildlife taking years to finally regrow the wildlife. Taking up most of Alajuela the dimensions are 1633 meters or 5358 feet across. Being predicted to be one of the youngest volcano at only 7500 years old, ironically there has been no activity in the volcano for over three years.
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Cerro Chirripó Mountain
The Cerro Chirripó Mountain located in the Cerro Chirripó National Park, is the official tallest point in all of Costa Rica, at an elevation of 3 820 meters or 12 533 feet above sea level. The mountain is an extremely popular tourist destination for hikers and adventure seekers. Taking up most of the park, this mountain is about 12 miles in length.
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Climate and Seasons
In the country of Costa Rica there are only two seasons winter and summer or as they call it the green season and dry season. The green season is similar to winter as it is cooler than the dry season as has extremely wet weather conditions. The only difference is in Costa Rica never gets below 10 degrees Celsius. The dry is similar to summer as it does not rain very often and their temperatures reach above 30 degrees Celsius.
Animals and Vegetation
Costa Rica is the home to over 500 000 species of animals and vegetation alone. 300 000 of those species are insects thus making Costa Rica 20th on the scale of species diversity in the world. It is due to the perfect atmosphere and living conditions that so many species of animals and plants have been discovered in the country of Costa Rica.
Vegetation
Costa Rica is well known for their mass of fruit and vegetable production. Due to their green and dry seasons, it allows for amazing production of fruit and vegetables. A popular fruit in Costa Rica is the papaya, this fruit is grown all over Costa Rica and is a very popular fruit. Papayas are extremely sweet and have a buttery consistency. They weigh around one pound and are usually 20 inches in length. A popular vegetable in Costa Rica is the avocado. This vegetable is extremely popular on top of salads, as dips or even on top of crackers or chips as it has a rather buttery taste. They are found just about anywhere in Costa Rica and weigh about two pounds. The Mango is another popular fruit Grown in Costa Rica, these fruits also have a buttery feeling to them and have an extremely rich, sweet taste to them. They are found all over Costa Rica, they weigh on average 500 grams, and get no bigger than 20 centimeters.
Insects
There are over 300 000 species of insects discovered within the country of Costa Rica, due to the wet living conditions. insects play a very important role due to the huge amounts of vegetation in the country. The most popular insects are cockroaches which are extremely popular all over the country. These cockroaches are bigger than normal cockroaches, about two times bigger and most are able to fly. Another very popular insect is the giant Rhinoceros Beetle which is the biggest and the strongest beetle in Costa Rica. This beetle is found in the lower, rain forest parts of Costa Rica and can also fly.The Giant Grasshopper is another popular insect in Costa Rica. These grasshoppers can be found anywhere in Costa Rica mostly during the evening when they come out of hiding and are capable of flying.
Birds
Costa Rica has thousands of different species of birds ranging very small in size to very big. Some common species of birds are the Keel-billed Toucan, the Turquoise-browed Motmot and the Resplendent Quetzal. The Keel-billed Toucan is a very popular bird in small forests and usually stay rather close to sea level. Having a big beak is useful as they are omnivores eating small insects and berries. The Turquoise-browed Motmot is often found on the tropical forest edges and in the inner parts of the forest and one of the most standout birds that you will come across. Their diet usually consists of small insects and some berries. Finally the Resplendent Quetzal usually found in the damp mountainous parts of Costa Rica. Their diet consists of mostly berries and surprisingly vegetables, although it is not rare for them to eat small insects.
Reptiles and Amphibians
The country of Costa Rica is known for their thousands of different types of reptiles and amphibians due to their interesting looks. The Glass Frog is one of the most interesting amphibians in the country. They are most commonly found in extreme wetland parts of Costa Rica along streams or in trees as they blend in with their surroundings. They are extremely small and their diet consists of few small insects. The Common Basilisk's are known to look very close to a small dragon. They are most often found near large bodies of water and on the outer edge of forests as that is where they blend in best. Their diet consists of insects including scorpions and fish although they do tend to eat fruits and berries. The Strawberry Poison-dart Frog is well known to look exactly like a strawberry and has a rather comical nickname as the blue jeans frog due to their legs looking like jeans although are extremely poisonous. Very hard to come across, these frogs are often in areas where there is no human interaction, deep in forests and low wetlands. Their diet, ironically consists of no strawberries, they eat ants and small butterflies.
Mammals
Costa Rica has thousands of interesting one of a kind mammals with each being completely different from one another. The Armadillo is a very interesting mammal found in Costa Rica, they are well known for rolling into a ball when scared. It is very rare to find one of these although they have been spotted all over Costa Rica as they do not have a single living standard. They diet consists mostly of small insects although it is not rare to find them eating berries. Jaguarundi looks very similar to a jaguar as they are very stealthy and hard to spot. These mammals live in just about any environment in Costa Rica and their diet consists of rodents, birds, and lizards. The Two-Toed Sloth is a very interesting mammal as they spend most of their time in trees of tropical forests. They are known to be extremely picky eaters as they will only eat some trees leaves and some berries, depending on the sloth.
Want More Information?
Click below to discover all of the most popular species in Costa Rica at the site Anywhere Costa Rica.
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