About 100 species of bats call Costa Rica home. Here is one: the Long-nosed Bat. These tiny fellows spend the day resting on the trunks of palm trees.For all you Twilight fans, there are indeed vampire bats in Costa Rica, but we didn't see any.
The most visible mammals are the monkeys up in the branches of the trees. We mostly saw Howler Monkeys which, as their name implies, make a great whooping sound, particularly in the mornings. This photo isn't that great, but hopefully you can pick out the baby holding onto mom.
We also saw White-faced Capuchins, which are locally known as White-faced Monkeys. These guys are much more interesting that the howlers. Why? Because they are predators. Howler monkeys spend much of the day resting while their bodies try to digest pounds of leaves. But capuchins are usually on the prowl for lizards and insects in addition to fruit. Oh, and every once in a while they will hunt down a squirrel or pop the tail off an iguana (which will then grow another one).
Last, but not least, we also saw several White-nosed Coatimundis. Close cousins of raccoon, these fellows were often foraging around the hotel. (In Mexico, we have seen coatis in groups, but here we saw only individuals.)
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