Arenal

Name: Arenal
Address: Costa Rica

Costa Rica · region

Arenal, Costa Rica — Photo: Grez, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Boundary from OpenStreetMap. The counts below cover the park and roughly 16 km around it.

10 km zone · high confidence · updated 41 days ago

Recorded in and around Arenal

Species: 3,899
Grid cells: 6,446
Records: 3,708,443

Insects 3,126
Birds 522
Reptiles 105
Mammals 67
Amphibians 58
Bony fish 20
Sharks and rays 1

Species with at least one recorded territory whose grid cell centres fall in or near Arenal. Cells are up to 25 km across, so an animal counted here may have been recorded just outside the boundary. This is not a park checklist, and the counts follow where people look as much as what lives there.

Likely encounters

insectLC

Blue Morpho

Morpho helenor

Electric blue flashes down forest paths, impossible to photograph in flight.

Very likelyCR

reptileLC

Green Iguana

Iguana iguana

Basking in the crowns of trees along slow rivers.

Very likelyCR

birdNT

Keel-billed Toucan

Ramphastos sulfuratus

Improbable bill, croaking calls above the canopy.

Very likelyCR

mammalVU

Mantled Howler Monkey

Alouatta palliata

The sound of the neotropics at first light.

Very likelyCR

amphibianLC

Red-eyed Tree Frog

Agalychnis callidryas

Night walks after rain, leaves at eye level.

Very likelyCR

birdNT

Sensitive · location generalised

Resplendent Quetzal

Pharomachrus mocinno

The green-and-scarlet emblem of the cloud forest, tail streaming behind.

Very likelyCR

birdLC

Scarlet Macaw

Ara macao

Pairs streaking above the beach almond trees at Carara.

Very likelyCR

amphibianLC

Strawberry Poison-dart Frog

Oophaga pumilio

Tiny, loud, and unmistakably red on the forest floor.

Very likelyCR

mammalLC

Three-toed Sloth

Bradypus variegatus

Slow-motion cecropia specialists: look up, then look up again.

Very likelyCR

mammalVU

White-faced Capuchin

Cebus imitator

Clever, curious troops. Do not feed them, ever.

Very likelyCR

mammalNT

Sensitive · location generalised

Jaguar

Panthera onca

Tracks along the beach at Corcovado; the animal itself is a gift.

UncommonCR

Chances by species: Blue Morpho, Green Iguana, Keel-billed Toucan, Mantled Howler Monkey, Red-eyed Tree Frog, Resplendent Quetzal, Scarlet Macaw, Strawberry Poison-dart Frog, Three-toed Sloth, White-faced Capuchin, Jaguar

Most recorded here

The species with the most open occurrence records in and around Arenal, among those a photograph exists for. Most recorded is not most numerous: it rewards animals that are common, conspicuous and live where people go.