Saving Costa Rica’s Jaguars and Howler Monkeys

Eden exists in Costa Rica thanks to the protected zone and the work of the people at Pacuare Lodge, which is located near the town of Siguirres. The area, known as Pacuare, covers about 25,000 acres of natural beauty. The rainforest here is home to jaguars, ocelots, howler monkeys, sloths, and other species of mammals and birds. Deep inside this region is the Pacuare Lodge. The Lodge and it’s 13 bungalows were designed and constructed to blend with the surrounding environment, affecting minimal impact, and has been recognized by the World Tourism Organization as one of only 65 examples throughout the world of good practice in sustainability and ecotourism. No trees were cut to accommodate the bungalows and main lodge, which are built of lumber from a reforestation project run by small farmers. The thatch roofs were made by local Cabécar Indians in their traditional style using palm leaves collected  from a forest reserve.

Repopulating Wildlife

In addition to building and running a sustainable and eco-friendly Lodge, Costa Rica Nature Adventures (owners of Pacuare Lodge) supports a project to protect and study jaguars and howler monkeys. The owners purchased 24 digital cameras that biologists have placed on game trails in the forest at two-kilometer intervals to capture images that can help them to estimate the jaguar population, and the abundance of prey. Overseeing the jaguar project are Dr. Eduardo Carrillo, a leading jaguar expert and professor in the Wildlife Management Program at Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional and Carolina Saenz Bolanos, a forest engineering master’s student of Management and Conservation of Wildlife.  ”This year we have reported 22 species of medium and large terrestrial mammals,” says Saenz Bolanos.

Jaguars, the largest of the big cats in the Americas, were once common from the southwest United States to northern Argentina. Unfortunately, their population is about half its original number from a century ago. Jaguars continue to be threatened by hunters and ranchers in Costa Rica. Here they are protected.

Spotting Jaguars

According to Luz Caceres, marketing and sales director and one of the owners of the Lodge, “jaguars are not aggressive to humans. In fact, they are shy. If you are in the jungle and a jaguar is close by, he may be hard to spot. They are camouflaged by the surroundings, and they are usually out at night. We recently spotted a pregnant jaguar thanks to the cameras that are posted throughout the area. A few months later the cameras captured her image with a baby that seemed to be about two months old.”

The cameras are a major investment. Each one costs between $150 and $200. “Since they are left out at night to record images of the jaguars, they do get damaged,” says Caceres. “One of our guests, a 9-year old girl from Boston, MA, fell in love with our jaguar program. When she returned home to the states, instead of having a birthday party with gifts, she asked her friends and school mates to give her money to buy cameras for the Pacuare Lodge.”

Reintroducing Howler Monkeys

While approximately 15,000 jaguars remain in the world, howler monkeys are not endangered. However, they were close to extinction in Central America because of hunting. The Pacuare Lodge knows the importance of repopulating animals and knows that their guests are there, in part, to observe wildlife. So, they have introduced a program to bring back howler monkeys to the region. “Before this program, we hadn’t seen one within the last 15 years,” says Caceres. “From the Lodge today, you can hear them howling on the other side of the river. And a few weeks ago, a troupe of eight monkeys came right up to the deck of the Lodge to observe us and our guests. They stayed for a few minutes and then left.”

Howlers can be heard from as far as three miles away in dense forest. While their call is not piercing, it’s loud and guttural. They are one of the loudest animals in the world.  

Gustavo Gutierrés Espeleta, Ph.D., and Ronald Sánchez, M.S., both from the University of Costa Rica, are in charge of the project. Together with a group of biologists and students, they are studying the movements, adaptations, signs, and sounds of these howler monkeys. Within two weeks of observing these monkeys in their new home by the Pacuare Lodge’s reserve, the monkeys were developing nicely. In fact, a newborn was spotted.

Visiting Pacuare Lodge
To arrange a holiday at Pacuare Lodge or to make a donation to the jaguar and howler monkey projects, call 1-800-963-1195.