Working with people to protect nature
The park is located on the Osa Peninsula on the southern Pacific coast and is fringed by endless, wide, flat sandy beaches. Corcovado National Park does not have easy access; however, it's your chance to experience nature in much splendor and isolation.
Isla del Caño is located offshore approximately 17 km west from the coast of Corcovado National Park. Although these two protected areas are physically separate and have distinct legal status both are under essentially the same management regime and share ecological characteristics and relationships.
Corcovado National Parks size is 44,484.56 terrestrial ha, (MINAE and SINAC 1999), and 1913,63 marine ha, (this marine area encompasses 500 meters seaward from the coastline of the Park). Isla del Caño Biological Reserves size is 320 terrestrial ha and 5,800 marine ha.
Scientists are still recognizing new and unique biological processes that occur in the Corcovado area. Biologists recently discovered that Golfo Dulce, located just east of Corcovado , is a calving area for both northern and southern Pacific populations of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) (see Acevedo 1995). This circumstance is very rare, and may prove essential for the preservation of genetic diversity in this species. These whales pass through the protected waters of Corcovado National Park and the Isla del Caño. Recently the highly endangered harpy eagle ( Harpia harpia ) believed to be locally extinct in Corcovado National Park since 1989, was confirmed to still exist in the Park or to have returned (Eliecer Arce, Personal Interview, 2002). Corcovado and the Osa Peninsula contain extremely high species diversity. Biologists estimate that the area contains approximately 10,000 species of insects, at least 2,418 species of plants, 700 species of trees, 140 species of mammals, 367 species of birds (Stiles 1983), 117 species of amphibians and reptiles (Scott et al. 1983), and 40 species of freshwater fish (MINAE & FPN 1999). An estimated 49 species of trees in the area are in danger of extinction, at least 12 of which are endemic to Costa Rica (MINAE & FPN 1999). In addition, the Osa Peninsula is the home of an endemic species of bird ( Habia atrimaxillaris ) and 17 endemic subspecies of birds (MINAE & SINAC 1999). Corcovado also contains the most significant populations of large endangered mammals such as jaguars ( Felis onca ), pumas ( Felis concolor ), ocelots ( Felis pardalis ), white-lipped peccaries ( Tayassu pecari ), and tapirs ( Tapirus bairdii ) on the Pacific coast of Central America . In addition to endangered mammals, there are relatively large populations of endangered birds in Corcovado including scarlet macaws ( Ara macao ) and the great curassow ( Crax rubra ). Preservation of Corcovado ’s rich biological resources will allow future recognition and understanding of the complex natural processes that characterize this ecologically unique area.
