Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica Photograph by John Morrison   Central America: Southern Costa Rica to the southwest coast of Panama Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   11,300 square miles (29,300 square kilometers) -- slightly larger than Maryland and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Remnants of a Great Forest
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Remnants of a Great Forest

If you travel to the Isthmian-Pacific Moist Forests, you're likely to see acres and acres of cattle pastures, crops, and human settlements. But scattered throughout this tropical region are remnants of a moist forest that once grew widely here. Where this forest is still intact, you can spy a variety of colorful tropical birds, rare spotted cats, and many other wild species.

Special Features

This ecoregion stretches from sea level to the mid-elevations of Costa Rica and central Panama. Located on a land bridge between North and South America, it contains a mixture of plants and animals from both continents. Earthquakes and volcanoes have disrupted the region periodically, creating variations in the topography. Together, variations in topography, climate, and seasonal rainfall have produced high habitat diversity within the region. An important habitat is the very wet forest on and around the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, where several endemic animals and plants live.

	Three-wattled bellbirds have ringing calls that carry over long distances.

Wild Side

The Isthmian-Pacific Moist Forests feature a rich community of tropical forest trees. And if you visit the forests of the Osa Peninsula, you'll see dramatically buttressed trees draped with lianas and other vines. Central American squirrel monkeys cavort in the trees. Jaguars and other forest cats silently stalk their prey. And a host of rare birds feed and rest within the high tree branches. Among the many birds you may be able to find here are harpy eagles, scarlet macaws, three-wattled bellbirds, resplendent quetzals, black guans, yellow-billed cotingas, and Baird's trogons. Both resplendent quetzals and three-wattled bellbirds depend on being able to migrate seasonally to these forests and could thus be threatened even though their breeding habitat is protected. Endemic birds here include a type of hummingbird called the white-crested coquette, the charming hummingbird, the black-cheeked ant-tanager, and the turquoise continga.

Cause for Concern

Most of this ecoregion has already been cleared to make room for cattle pasture, human settlement, and plantations of coffee, pineapple, and other crops. Illegal logging, goldmining, hunting, and pollution all continue to threaten the region, even around protected areas. Parrots have been widely eliminated by people taking nestlings for the pet trade.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.