San Jose Zoo and La Selva: Round 2!

Thanks to all the free time I have, I went to the Parque Zoológico Simón Bolívar, in San Jose on February 22nd with a couple friends from Land Vertebrates class. After hearing rumors that the animals in this zoo were sad and depressed, I wanted to see for myself. In all truth, these animals were happy as clams. Despite their small exhibits, they are taken good care of. Much to my enjoyment, they had several species of owls! I was in heaven, people probably thought I was a creep for how much time I spent staring at the owls... I like to call myself dedicated. :) 

A sleeping pair of owls

There was also a darling, smiling sloth Chewy, a dwarf jaguar (literally had short limbs, but a regular sized body), macaws, poison dart frogs, a tapir, white-faced Capuchins, and spider monkeys. The most magestic of the animals was the male lion. I loved him because he had a couple dreads on his mane - he looked a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow. Coincidence? I think not. 

Here is a video of the king of the jungle waiting his dinner - a huge pile of meat. You can see his few dreads on his mane near his chest. 

Faith and I standing so close to Chewy the sloth!

Short Jaguar - Brutus

On our journey through the zoo, we ran into an older couple several times.  The man ended up being a professional photographer, and even let me use his 500mm lens!!! This opporunity made my day, I couldn't believe I shot a couple photos with a nearly $7,000 lens! :D Maybe one day I'll be a proud owner of one, especially with my interest in nature and wildlife!

The next day was our trip to La Selva, along with the rest of the Land Vertebrates class. This second trip to the tropical rain forest was so epic! The class size this time was much smaller, and therefore we were able to go further on the trails. We even hiked up a perilously muddy hill.

Crazy hike.

This trip rained much more than the previous trip to La Selva.  It was fortunate because all the amphibians came out, including the blue jean frog! It was unfortunate because somehow I forgot my rain jacket... And I couldn't bring my Canon 50D along. I was able to get some awesome videos of the rain forests sounds, as well as a video of two monkey species have a "disagreement" - white faced Capuchins and spider monkeys. Here is the link to the video of the monkeys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4kkosLlQx0&feature=youtu.be 

Say hi to the blue jean poison dart frog!

Overall, it was yet again a good trip to the tropical rain forest! I love this place. Beauty seeps from every corner, and it continues to take my breath away.

~"Live for the moments you can't put into words."~