Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica Photograph by © WWF-Canon/Michèle DEPRAZ   Central America: Costa Rica and western Panama Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   6,300 square miles (16,300 square kilometers) -- about the size of Hawaii Relatively Stable/Intact

· Life in the Moist Mountains
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Life in the Moist Mountains

Hike high into the Talamanca Montane Moist Forests and you'll find yourself surrounded by an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life. These mountain forests are home to a great wealth of plant species from giant oaks to diminutive orchids. Brilliantly colored resplendent quetzals are a flagship species for the many amazing birds and animals that live here. The high humidity and rain, steep slopes, and active volcanoes have limited agriculture and urban development here, helping to make these highland wet forests one of Central America’s most intact ecoregions.

Special Features

The dramatic topography of the Talamanca Montane Moist Forests indicates that the area has a variety of habitats, many isolated from similar areas, which in turn support a variety of plant and animal species with local ranges. In high elevation cloud forests, abundant rainfall, wind-blown mist, and frequent cloud cover ensure that plants here grow thick and lush. Epiphytes like orchids cover most surfaces in cloud forests.

	The spectacular golden toad of Monteverde is now believed to be extinct, probably because of an introduced fungus that is killing frogs over wide areas in the American tropics.

Wild Side

The montane and cloud forests of this ecoregion are noted for their richness and number of endemic species. You'll find spectacular forests of giant oaks, nearly 300 species of orchids, and 175 species of ferns. Crested eagles and enormous harpy eagles fly over the ground in search of prey. Three-wattled bellbirds fill the air with their ringing calls. Bare-necked umbrellabirds, black guans, and red-fronted parakeets call from the trees. The haunting calls of song wrens and slaty-backed nightingale-thrushes echo through the dense forests in the early morning.

Cause for Concern

About 75 percent of the original forest still covers this ecoregion. In fact, a full 40 percent is under strict protection in national parks and other areas. Still, threats remain in the form of illegal logging and land clearance for cattle pasture. What's more, the cloud forests of the region are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change. By being isolated on mountaintops, they have little chance to adapt to climatic shifts. Larger animals like tapirs, jaguars, and puma have been overhunted in many areas.

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