Friday, January 14, 2011

Lions, Tigers ... and Banana Spiders

I have a personal bug policy that has been in place for decades:  Roaches must be killed - but spiders should be captured and relocated outside.

Obviously, there is no debate on the roach policy.  Living a subtropical climate, I’m a darn good bug killer.  And my spider approach has resulted in a fairly fullproof catch-and-release system.

So my friend Renee commented about a post on FB and somehow we got onto the subject of banana spiders in Costa Rica.  Of the two types of banana spiders, the South American version has been identified as the most venomous spider in the world.  So, no catch and release for you Señor Banana Spider.

But this got me thinking:  What else might be running about the jungles of Costa Rica?

A Coati ... I think.
The list in Pavones appears to include iguanas, monkeys, sloths, agouti, coati, giant lizards, scarlet macaws, and toucans.  There is passing reference to some poisonous spiders and frogs but not much mention of anything lethal, prevalent and hungry for gringo surf girls.  

I take this to mean one of three things:
·         There really isn’t anything all that lethal in Pavones
·         No one has chosen to blog or report on the lethal things that are there
·         Costa Rica’s reliance on eco-tourism has resulted in a collective effort by Ticos to focus on the popular pretty animals and ignore or deny all else

Whichever of those three is the case, I’m pretty psyched about the animals that I know are there.  Love the iguanas and giant lizards – just bigger versions of the cool little green guys that we live with here.  The agouti are rodents, but cute ones, and coati are a funky mix of possum and raccoon.  

And then there's the sloth. What’s not to love about a sloth?  It’s named after one of the seven deadly sins!

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