Sloths and Monkeys and Quetzals-- A Trial Post

So I was talking to my friend and colleague Laurie at school the other day (during my one and only brief visit to school this year), and she told me that it was possible to insert photos in a blog so that I don't have to have the large amount to the right. So this is a trial post to see what happens. So I decided to post about all the cool wildlife I saw.

First, let's talk about sloths. There are two kinds in Costa Rica: the three-toed and the two-toed. I saw one three-toed during my trip to Arenal. I got a great photo thanks to the guide, who took this photo through a telescope. You'll notice that it's kind of green. That's because the sloth moves so slowly that moss can grow on it. It's one of the reasons why sloths are so hard to see.

In Manuel Antonio, we saw all sorts of things. We saw three two-toed sloths. The first two was a mother and her baby. We also saw a baby two-toed moving through the trees. This is unusual because usually two-toed are nocturnal. But I guess youngsters are more active because they are exploring their worlds. Can you just see their mothers yelling, "Go to sleep! It's day already!!" I completely forgot that my camera took short films because I would have loved to film it moving. It was verrrrry slow, not surprisingly. I feel very lucky to have seen it.

There are 4 types of monkeys in Costa Rica. I saw all 4, but one, the squirrel monkeys, I saw from very far away moving in the trees above us. We saw howlers, but I didn't get any good pictures of them. White-faced, or capuchin monkeys are all over Manual Antonio.
They will follow you around as you're walking because they are hoping that someone will feed them. Unfortunately, many people do, so if you're ever in Manuel Antonio, don't fall into that trap because once you start, they basically start stealing things from you that they think are food.

In Manuel Antonio there are also spider monkeys, a favorite of every zoo I've ever been in. It was nice to see them in their own environment. They live in the highest treetops, but happily, there's a path in Manuel Antonio that takes you up to their level. There's a lot of noise, a lot of fighting, and a lot of jumping around. They really are fun to watch.


Finally, there is the resplendent quetzal, which is actually it's official name. The national bird of Guatemala, where it is extinct, the quetzal was the most important bird to the Mayans. They used its feathers for ceremonial reasons. I saw three quetzals. Two males and a female. The female was hard to see, so I didn't get a good photo, and the second male had his back turned to us. But the first male was incredible, and once again, I got a photo (and a film) through the telescope thanks to Jairo, my guide and my host father. Quetzals eat avocados, small ones, that they swallow whole. Then they sit in trees while they digest them, and then they throw up the pits. That's why the quetzal just sat there for us. It was digesting.

Well, thanks to Laurie. I like this much better. So I'll slowly phase out the photos to the right and start doing this. This way of blogging is much nicer.