Exploring Costa Rica’s Wild Side When I look out the window of my bedroom in California I see pigeons, seagulls, and the occasional crow. As my house is located near a zoo, I can frequently hear the chirps and howls of monkeys in the morning. When I looked out the window of any of the hotels I stayed in during my trip to Costa Rica, I saw geckos, iguanas and the occasional toucan. I could still hear the chirps and howls of monkeys in the morning —but because they were swinging from branches nearby, not in captivity at a zoo. In addition to lizards, toucans and monkeys, Costa Rica is home to over 500,000 species of both animals and plants, making it a country with the one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity. The many different types of ecosystems within Costa Rica – rainforests, deciduous forests, the coast – make it possible to sustain an astonishing number of plants and animals. Protecting the extraordinary biodiversity The first national parks in Costa Rica were e...