Source: Zoo Ave Facebook A female sloth that was victimized by two heartless men in the Southern Pacific region of Costa Rica has improved enough to be transferred to a new habitat. Officials at Zoo Ave, one of the best-known wildlife rescue centers in Costa Rica, confirmed that the sloth lost her sight as a result of being hit by rocks thrown at her head. Still, she has recovered well from...

We set out down the beach under a leaden sky stuffed with clouds. It was 8:00 at night, and at first it was hard to see, with the nearly full moon sliding in and out of clouds; but soon our eyes adjusted to the dimness. A light mist began to dust us, and not a soul stirred nearby. We were on sea turtle patrol. Five of us were decked out in dark colors to blend with the night. Sea turtles don...

The government of Costa Rica announced Monday that it will transform its two zoos into botanical gardens or urban parks in order to eliminate the practice of displaying caged animals. Simon Bolivar Zoo in downtown San Jose, and the Santa Ana Conservation Center west of the capital, will be modified in response to “a change of environmental conscience among Costa Ricans,” Environment and Energy ...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published about Rancho Margot and how Eco-literacy programs are evolving within their self sufficient jungle ranch. El Castillo, COSTA RICA – July 2013 – Rancho Margot, innovator and educator in sustainable community development, permaculture and self-sufficiency, is pleased to announce the Social Responsibility Fund. Juan Sostheim, owner and founder of Ranch...

An Exotic Anthropod A ridiculously colored thirty-sixipede scurried across my porch. It was between rains one leisurely afternoon in Herradura when this striking little creature decided to make an appearance, jump-starting my mind. After my brain finished processing this visual oddity, I bolted inside to get my camera before he could make his escape (delaying him first by putting him on top of...

El Castillo, COSTA RICA – April 2013 – Rancho Margot, innovator and educator in sustainable community development, permaculture and self-sufficiency, announced enhanced Eco-Literacy Student Programs after years of experience educating students, guests, volunteers and employees at a 400-acre eco lodge near the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. Rancho Margot’s Eco-Literacy Student Program aims to...

Safari Surf School, Costa Rica's premier surf school and camp for fourteen years, strives to be carbon neutral with the addition of the "Innovative Biodiesel Project" -- the world's first small-scale biodiesel production system that is closed-loop (zero waste), energy independent (off-grid), and carbon-negative. Safari Surf's Sustainability Director, Carl Kish, has partnered with biodiesel expert ...

Article originally found on BirdingCraft.com. In the past The Costa Rica Star has published on bird watching excursions in Costa Rica and how Nature Air is supporting this fantastic hobby. Time flies just like the migrants that zip through Costa Rica. Although I haven’t listened to the night skies as much as the previous year, the Spring Peeper-like notes of Swainson’s Thrushes have drif...

A tourist guide had a lucky escape from a crocodile recently after he tried to get up close and personal with the monster. Luckily, the croc was already full. A tour guide in Costa Rica can count himself (and his fingers) lucky after having this near miss with a monster of a crocodile. While trying to impress a group of tourists by dangling some chicken in front of the croc, the guide w...

An open letter to the honorable Sir Richard Branson and Jose Maria Figueres Olson, from Shawn Larkin, one of the most sincere animal activists in Costa Rica. I have raised my family on Costa Rican seas. The oceans sustain and provide for us everyday. So, I would like to thank you deeply for your most excellent support of saving sharks in this green country embracing blue. Having outstan...

Tucked away somewhere in Río Segundo in Alajuela, behind veiled chain link fencing and sporting nearly no signs is The Ara Project. Between my unfamiliarity with the area and Tico-style directions it might have been easier just to roll down the window and listen. 200 macaws squawking carries a pretty long way... Chris Castle opens the gate and I finally meet what was had been just a voi...

The proposed project seeks to enhance the climate resilience of investments in Nicaragua's rural water supply sector. The project is closely aligned with relevant national policies, strategies, plans and legislation. In particular, the project would support the implementation of the National Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for 2010-15. The SCCF grant ($6 million, ex...

I was going to write a post today about listening for nocturnal migrants in Costa Rica but given the circumstances of 9 AM on September 5th, I opted for an earthquake theme. As I write, we don’t have electricity, phone service, or Internet but the battery on this Toshiba laptop works! Every time there is a strong earthquake in Costa Rica, I guess it shakes some wires loss to disrupt any sort o...

A new international agreement between U.S. National Park Service and Costa Rica’s Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion will step up cooperation for planning, development, management and operation of protected natural parks and cultural sites. The two agencies will also share information in fire management and control, climate change adaptation, marine protected areas and the developmen...

National and international environmental policies have direct impacts on local conservation initiatives. Motivated individuals and groups of people have to lobby directly to governments in order to raise attention to vital issues with the goal of greater protection of natural resources and cultural heritage. This blog is about a positive event that happened recently that gives us hope for the...

The pretty white Marango tree flower. Source: INBIO Costa Rica There is a tree that grows in certain areas of Guanacaste and other regions of Costa Rica that -depending on who you choose to believe- could wipe out hunger on a global level, cure most diseases tied to vitamin deficiencies, boost sustainable farming practices, serve as a renewable energy source, and even make people rich in just a ...

It is early morning, and my guide, Jose, has just stopped the four-wheel drive jeep in the middle of a dirt road in the middle of the forest. “We get out here,” Jose says. “But first we stop and listen.” We stand in the hush of dawn, the gray light slowly lifting the night, revealing a gray-green mist-shrouded forest. And then we hear a shrill, delicate cry. “Listen,” says Jose excitedly...

Finca Bellavista -- the world's first treehouse community -- yesterday announced the formation of its non-profit branch, the Bellavista Initiative. For their highly anticipated launch, this Ewok-themed community that swings high in the tropical forests of Costa Rica came to San Francisco, a city on the cutting edge of lifestyle curation and environmental awareness. For the last six years, t...

Alton Biggs and his wife Louise recently traveled more than 2,000 miles to point out the behavior of monkeys and various other Central America animals for a group of teachers and friends. Among the 17 participants in the trip to Costa Rica were biology teachers, a nurse, an editor and one of Mr. Biggs’s previous students. This was Mr. and Mrs. Biggs’s second trip to the Central American coun...

Recently, Julia VanTieghem – New York-based coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance’s major gifts’ team – had an opportunity to travel with colleagues to Costa Rica to see firsthand the benefits of the Rainforest Alliance’s work on farms, forests and hotels. She writes… Our home base for the week was a hotel that has worked with the Rainforest Alliance to put good environmental and social prac...

When: Saturday, August 04, 2012 Where: Hotel Villa del Sueño, Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica Music: Los Piratas del Lago (The Pirates of the Lake) from 7PM - 10PM Cost: $10 per person; includes one free drink (beer, wine, well cocktail or soft drink) For tickets call Chip at 8702-8367 or Faith at 2672-4008 As you may know, the Playa Hermosa Association's Environmental Blue Flag Committ...

In Puerto Jimenez near Golfito this weekend, an alleged poacher traveling in a quadracyle all-terrain vehicle (ATV) was stopped by Fuerza Publica officers on route 245. The driver of the ATV was clumsily attempting to conceal two tepezcuintles (pacas) in plastic shopping bags. The two wild Cuniculus paca specimens were killed by a firearm, which the officers found stored in a rear compartment of t...

In the realm of Internet viral media, the sloths of Costa Rica have managed to retain supremacy thanks to their affable demeanor and overall cuteness. The latest sloth-related viral item currently making the rounds on the Internet involves a juvenile sloth that gatecrashed or photobombed his way (a Tico tour guide identified the sloth's male gender) into the picture frame of a youth volunteer grou...

In a news article aired by the National Radio Chamber of Costa Rica (CANARA in Spanish), renowned agricultural and ecosystems expert Alexander Bonilla Duran gave some interesting insight behind Kolbi, ICE's amphibian choice for branding of its popular wireless communications and data services. The powerful government-sponsored ICE consortium currently enjoys the lion's share of the lucrative Tico ...

A couple of dear readers have sent us questions related to environmental issues in Costa Rica. Our country has considerably stepped up conservation efforts since the mid-1970s, and there is a commitment in place to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2021. Conservation and carbon neutrality are two issues that go hand-in-hand to ensure that our country remains pretty and pristine, and thus The C...

Nature made Costa Rica’s beaches beautiful, and the local government is making sure that they also remain clean thanks to the Bandera Azul Ecologica (Blue Ecologic Flag) program. The PBAE was created in 1996 with the objective of preventing or stopping pollution and to safeguard the public health. The program (which is an adaptation of a similar one launched in Europe back in 1985) has been promot...

Some of the most adorable arboreal creatures on Earth are being given a helping hand in a former bird zoo in Limón. Since 1992, the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Cahuita has been caring for “osos perezosos” -as sloths are called in Spanish- that need some sort of rehabilitation before being returned to the wild. Many of the sloths who end up at Aviarios are truly needy: they are orphaned babies. The...