In meteorology, a tropical cyclone or tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, typhoon, or hurricane, depending on strength and location) is a type of low pressure system which generally forms in the tropics. Hurricane is the term used to describe tropical cyclones that form in the Caribbean where we are located. Hurricanes need the warm humid air above tropical oceans in ...

To aid coastal planning, CATHALAC has developed a profile of the relative vulnerability of Central America’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts to the hazards of storm-induced coastal erosion and storm surge, using geo-spatial modeling. A profile of the relative vulnerability of Central America’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts to the hazards of storm-induced coastal erosion and storm surge is now a...

German botanist Rolf Blancke, a long-time resident of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, and Zona Tropical Publications are seeking funding on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter.com to publish the most comprehensive book for the general reader ever produced on tropical fruits of the world, with descriptions of over 330 fruit species, lush photographs, and range maps. If funded, the book will be rel...

Specialists with the Permanent Contingency Commission (COPECO) are now in Trojes area, in the eastern Honduran department of El Paraíso, to investigate the alleged crash of a meteorite. According to the inhabitants of that region near the border with Nicaragua, a fireball crossed the sky on Saturday night and then they heard a loud explosion. A COPECO statement clarified that no speciali...

A new scientific survey has returned with good news for one of the ocean’s most loveable creatures – the endangered Antillean manatee is making a comeback in its Belizean home waters. An Oceanic Society team led by Dr Holly Edwards spotted a record number of manatees during an aerial survey over Belize’s Turneffe Atoll. Combined with results from a coastal survey undertaken by Belize’s Coas...

The Costa Rica Star has previously reported on Spider Monkeys in Costa Rica. The sharp decline in the population of Costa Rican spider monkeys, classified in about 70% between 1995 and 2007 by biologists from the University of Costa Rica, was the main motivation for a couple of Americans to began a rehabilitation project that will allow monkeys to return to their natural habitat. Spider ...

The announcement made by the United States about the possible use of surveillance blimps, similar to those being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan, in the border with Mexico hits the newspapers' headlines on Wednesday. According to the news released by The Wall Street Journal, Washington will decide in the next few weeks the use of the battlefield blimps to prevent the crossing of undo...

We were hiking through the woods of the Cockscomb Basin Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve in Belize, the more-than-150-square-mile verdant reserve that is a no-hunting haven for many species of this hemisphere's wild cats -- the puma, ocelot, jaguarundi, margay and jaguar. As we moved along well-tended trails, there were signs of activity -- muddy paw prints by a riverbank, bits of jaguar scat -- ...

Note:The Costa Rica Star has previously written extensively on Paul Watson. Pete Bethune used to be a skipper of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, now he works with Earthrace Conservation. I took a call last week from a Journalist in Costa Rica, and he had an interesting take on Costa Rica’s impending (or attempted) extradition of Paul Watson. He was adamant that all the nonsense about Co...

According to an expert team of scientists from the USA, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Costa Rican termites are like; “mobile miniature bioreactors.” Believe it or not, Costa Rican termites are famous and well sought after. World-class scientists from the USA along with researchers from the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, traveled into the La Selva Field Station an...

Source: INBio Costa Rica People who live in the rural areas of intermediate elevation in Costa Rica, which happens to be a major portion of the country, are used to hearing a diversity of wild noises in the predawn hours, or after the sun goes down. While many of these animal calls come from the farms and forest areas surrounding residential neighborhoods, some homeowners and tenants are often a...

This incredible footage of mating marble rays was captured by our Cruise Director Federico Pochet during the MV Sea Hunter Trip to Cocos Island from July 26 - August 4th 2012. After getting their shark fix at legendary Alcyone, Fed led the group to a safety stop and witnessed marble rays gracefully performing their mating ritual. The cameras were rolling, and as you can see, it is noth...

Besides the great right hand breaks, Matapalo is also a key spot for Humpback Whale watching. The 5th largest of the whale species, they can grow as long as 52 feet and weigh up to 50 tons. They may be gray, black or mottled and most likely have white on its flippers and underside. These great mammals of the sea arrive here twice a year from the Northern Hemisphere in January and February and...

The Costa Rica White Hawk Project's mission is to purchase forested lands to protect all of the wildlife in the Carate River Valley, creating a crucial wildlife corridor all along the Osa Peninsula where animals can roam freely and be protected. Mission The goal of this project is to purchase forested lands for protection of all of the wildlife in the Carate River Valley. It will be part...

The government of Costa Rica signed an agreement with Panthera, an organization dedicated to protecting cats, to take action on behalf of the Jaguar in Latin America. The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications, said the deal with Panthera commits the parties to pursue scientific and conservation initiatives that help to preserve the largest cat in the Americas, which is in d...

The Mexican government posted a hurricane warning for the Yucatan peninsula midday Monday as the strengthening Tropical Storm Ernesto advanced from the east. At 11 a.m., the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Ernesto was 190 miles east-northeast of the Nicaragua/Honduras border, moving toward the west-northwest near 9 mph. The system had sustained winds of 65 mph with higher gu...

It eluded Franklin Roosevelt, Sir Malcolm Campbell and Errol Flynn, but now an explorer from Melton Mowbray could be on the trail of a multi-million-pound hoard of gold, silver and jewellery stolen by pirates and buried on a treasure island. Shaun Whitehead is leading an archaeological expedition to Cocos Island, the supposed hiding place of the “Treasure of Lima” – one of the world’s most ...

Costa Rica has one of the most ambitious and developed conservation programmes among tropical rainforest countries. More than 10% of the country is protected and the government has a target of protecting 18% of the country in national parks and a further 13% in privately owned reserves. The government has initiated many programmes to promote sustainable development, including forest managem...

Belize’s “Celebration Season” got off to an early start this year with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Hol Chan, the Caribbean nation’s first national marine park, The Lodge at Chaa Creek’s marketing administrator Larry Waight announced today. “We usually begin what we call our celebration season in September, a big month in which we celebrate the Battle of St George’s Caye, Be...

As one of the pioneers of payments for environmental services (PES), Costa Rica has already established several long term income streams to compensate landowners for conserving their rainforest. Trees and forests provide significant local and global environmental services, ameliorating climate change, maintaining rainfall patterns and, of course, protecting biodiversity. The concept, ho...

For the first time since the world began speculating why Captain Paul Watson made the decision to forfeit his bail and depart Germany after being held there under house arrest for 70 days, the Captain himself is speaking out. He relayed a message to Sea Shepherd headquarters over the weekend, asking that it be provided to his supporters. The complete message follows: To my friends and suppo...

Heavy rains in central and eastern Costa Rica have triggered floods that have forced evacuations and may be responsible for at least one death, relief workers said Sunday. Four people are missing, down from eight earlier, according to Freddy Roman, a spokesman for the local Red Cross. The government has declared a "yellow alert" in various parts of Cartago, a central province where one p...

A moderately powerful earthquake has shaken the Mexico-Guatemala border region, but there are no reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey says the 7:22 a.m. (8:22 a.m. EDT; 1222 GMT) quake had a magnitude of 6.0. Mexico's seismology service calculates it at 5.7. The quake was just a few miles off the coast at the border, with a depth of 22 miles (35.5 kilometers). Chiapas state c...

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...

Valdosta State University will send 12 students and an instructor to Nicaragua for a 10-day field study in transcultural care. The study abroad excursion will be a first for the College of Nursing and was made possible when one University System of Georgia institution of higher learning reached out to another. Troy Spicer, a faculty member at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s School o...

A unique experience to interact with Costa Rica’s wild animals and help a worthwhile cause. The Jaguar Animal Rescue Center in Playa Chiquita is a center to rehabilitate mistreated, injured and/or confiscated animals, which are then reintroduced to their natural habitat in protected areas. 

During your visit you will have direct contact with monkeys, wild cats, sloths, racoons, anteate...

A delegation of four representatives from San Ramón, Costa Rica recently visited Austin, Texas to promote collaboration around environmental initiatives. During their visit the group met with the City of Austin, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, the UT Energy Institute, the UT IC2 Institute, the Texas Climate & Carbon Exchange, the Catellus Group (Mueller Project), P...

LIBERIA- Ad Astra Rocket Company, Costa Rica, along with Costa Rica's government- owned oil refinery Refinadora Costarricense de Petrleo (RECOPE), EARTH University and Costa Rica's Ministry of Environment, and Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET), signed two agreements yesterday related to research and development of technologies based on the use hydrogen as an alternative fuel. The first...

The hidden sexual habits of Hoffmann's two-toed sloths have been revealed by scientists. Mating activity of the "lazy" mammals was analysed in Costa Rica to assess the effect of a sedentary lifestyle. Ecologists discovered a mating system where male sloths did not monopolise females but did show signs of defending some territory. The study could help scientists understand how to prote...

Whether churchgoers realize it or not, the trees in their churchyards have religious roots. Those tall, thin-branched trees on the corner of the Episcopal Church Center of Utah, Purple Robe Black Locusts, were probably named after a biblical reference to John the Baptist eating locusts and honey. The crab apple tree just outside the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Mark produces a small...

Learning about sea turtles in Costa Rica, eight Regina students also learned about environmental conservation and how it can benefit Saskatchewan. The students, along with a parent volunteer and Jolene Siemens, a Regina teacher and recruiter for the trip, travelled to Costa Rica on June 29 to participate in a 10-day program with the International Ecology Project, during which they learned a...

Rare earth elements not included - for now. Author's Note: This article seeks to retract statements made in previous articles published earlier this year by The Costa Rica Star with regard to the use of rare earth metals in our country. The specific articles are: The Role of Rare Earth in Costa Rica's Future, published on Valentine's Day, and ICE Could Soon Produce 100 Megawatts of Wind Power in...

Some people's greatest fear is to find themselves in the water with a shark. Others travel for days to put themselves in that situation. Such was the case for the 19 eager divers, including myself, who flew to Costa Rica from all over the globe in order to ride for 36 hours on a boat to the Cocos Islands, where hundreds of sharks school. Diving in Cocos was unlike anything I had done before, an...

You can view more pictures related to this article on The Costa Rica Star Facebook page. Spider monkeys Chiquito and Lolita were orphaned when their mothers were hunted and killed for bush meat. Chiquito was four or five days old, hairless, and fit in the palm of his surrogate human mother’s hand. No one is sure how old Lolita was when her mother was killed. Fortunately, compassionate Costa Ric...

According to a bulletin issued by the National Meteorological Institute (IMN), the next three months will be dryer than usual. The forecast released on June 4 by the director of the IMN, Juan Carlos Fallas, stated that this dryness is due to El Niño and its effects will be felt in Costa Rica until March of 2013. However, the director warned that when it does rain, the showers will be short and ver...

As forests in South and Central America are cleared for agriculture and other human uses, populations of these arboreal leaf eaters, which depend on large trees for both food and refuge, can become isolated and at risk. But one type of sustainable agriculture, shade grown cacao plantations, a source of chocolate, could become critical refuges and bridges between intact forests for the iconic anima...

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...

After studying marine biology and spending family vacations in Costa Rica, a Carlsbad woman turned her fascination with sea turtles into an effort to help the endangered animals in the Central American country. Courtney King, a recent marine biology graduate from U.C. Davis, spent one of her last quarters abroad working on turtle conservation with the nonprofit Costa Rican organization Pretoma....

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a step closer to adding four macaw species to the "endangered" list, the agency announced Friday (July 6). The birds — the great green macaw, the hyacinth macaw, the scarlet macaw and the military macaw — warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, a Service analysis has found. The proposal to list the birds as endangered is now open to a 60-day pe...

Along Tortuguero’s dark and sandy beach, hundreds of people will gather to send off Costa Rica’s green sea turtle competing in the 5th annual Tour de Turtles Migration Marathon. On July 14-15, Sea Turtle Conservancy staff will attach a satellite-transmitter on a green turtle as a part of mock marathon that tracks sea turtle migratory movements online. Named ‘Shelldon’ by her sponsor, Holbrook T...