Rest Day & Butterfly Gardens

Day 7--Monday, February  17 (President's Day)
Rest Day & Butterfly Gardens

Today was our before-travel rest day. We had the usual delicious 6:00 AM breakfast (an omelet again for me) at the Lodge. Then we walked the the Compost Trail and saw an Emerald Toucanet and then walked the Sloth trail. While sitting on a trailside bench, we encountered a family of four Coati . They showed no fear or wariness of us. We were told that it was a mother and four young ones because the adult males do not travel with the females.

Internet pic of an Emerald Toucanet

White-nosed Coatis on the prowl; count the tails

After our walks, we taxied to a Butterfly Garden (Jardin de Mariposas). This garden was housed under netting and in several different buildings. We began in a room that contained terrariums and live and pinned insects where we listened to an Aussie naturalist with an almost un-understandable accent tell us about each. You know me, I love my insects and bugs, so this was a treat.

First we were shown some live Leaf Katydids.Yes they are camouflaged to look like dead leaves (see below). Then we heard about and got to see a large Costa Rican stick insect up close and personal. It was six or seven inches long and was delicately removed from its branch for close-up viewing. We also were shown giant cockroaches and told how clean they were. In fact our Aussie naturalist kissed the back of one to prove it. No one in the audience volunteered to hold this insect or do the same.

Ever since reading my illustrated Costa Rica Wildlife, Bird and Amphibian pamphlets, I had been wanting to see a Peanut-headed Bug (Fulgora laternaria) and here I finally got my chance . . . though it was a pinned specimen. These bugs are planthoppers with a straw for a mouth. They are large, growing to about three-to three-and-a-half inches long—and weirdly wonderful. Yes, they have a “head” (really a forehead) that resembles an unshelled peanut. Scientists think that the head is supposed to imitate a lizard's head.  

Our Aussie naturalist told us that when a predator grabs the bug by the head, its empty head crumbles and detaches from the bug. The bug then spreads its wings scaring off the predator with its large, yellow wing eyespots and the bug flies away unharmed. But, when trying to find on the Internet whether the bug grew back another peanut-shaped “false head,” I could not find this false head escape technique mentioned. No matter, I still find this an interesting bug. I’ve read that it knocks its head on a hollow tree to create vibrations for mates. 

Another interesting bug shown to us was the Ironclad Beetle. According to the naturalist, it can survive being stepped on, run over by a car, and even swallowed and expelled because it has the hardest exoskeleton of any living bug. I could not verify this claim in my Internet search either.

Ironclad Beetle

The last explained was a Hercules Beetle (Dynastes hercules, Dynastinae).  We learned that this beetle is a species of rhinoceros beetle native to the rainforests of Central and South America and is the longest beetle in the world. Also one of the largest flying insects in the world  The Hercules Beetle can lift up to 850 times its own body weight, making it the strongest creature on earth for its size.

Below, a child's Hercules Beetle riding toy. I thought it fitting as I felt the insect and bug talk we'd just heard was geared more for children than adults.

After our insect introduction we were led through the various butterfly enclosures. There were not many butterflies but our guide pointed out and named the ones that were there and I took pix of interesting butterflies, larvae, and plants. I am sorry to say but the names of many of them fell out of my memory and I am too lazy to look them up.

Not sure what species these are. I think they are blue morphos, but they might also be the species below..?

Zebra Longwing

Postman

Owl

Not very good pix. Shot through glass but interesting

I enlarged this photo so that you can see the owl butterfly larvae with their spiked backs and funky horned heads.

 Below is a closeup of an older larvae from the Internet.

The guide also showed us an amazing plant called a Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla). It is a vine and its huge flower does somewhat resemble a Dutchman's Pipe.The plant is a woody vine with large heart-shaped leaves that produces flowers shaped like curved pipes.The flowers attract swallowtail butterflies as well as pollinating flies with an odor like rotting meat.

Back at the lodge we ate our last lunch—fish tacos with dessert of native fruit sorbet and a chocolate stick—packed up our things, donned our bathing suits and terry robes and returned to the pool to relax, though relaxing was again difficult as the foggy clouds were sifting rain. While at the pool a male coati climbed up onto the pool bar searching for food. A couple of women who were there got a photo, but I was not fast enough . . . or close enough. I’d read that these animals can be vicious when threatened, as can any wild animal.

Rebecca enjoying the lovely Lodge solar-heated pool

That night we dressed for dinner for the last time. I had mahi-mahi in citrus sauce and a glass of Chilian wine. Rebecca had a mojito and tuna loin, I think.

After dinner we settled our bill,  tipped staff and service people, and arranged to have our Daytrip driver pick us up at 7:00 am rather than the original 8:00. Though our American Airlines seats were assigned and I thought we could get our boarding passes at the airport when we checked our bags (nearly $40 for a checked bag on American), Rebecca got on the front-desk computer and printed out our boarding passes.

Back at the room it was final packing, showers, and Scrabble before bed.