News + Stories

Uncategorized / 23.10.2012

La terciopelo es una hermosa serpiente de color gris oscuro, café o verde oliva, con un patrón dorsal de diseños triangulares a ambos lados del cuerpo, los cuales vistos desde arriba semeja una letra X. Es una serpiente grande, que puede alcanzar los 250 cm aunque el promedio de adultos varía entre los 140 y 180 cm de longitud.  Las hembras son mucho más largas que los machos. Se alimentan principalmente de pequeños mamíferos y aves. La especie es vivípara, lo que quiere decir que los embriones se desarrollan dentro de la madre y nacen completamente formados, además es muy fecunda, pudiendo dar a luz hasta 90 crías. Su alta fecundidad explica en parte por qué la terciopelo es una de las serpientes más abundantes de Costa Rica.
Marine Conservation, Science and Research / 12.10.2012

[caption id="attachment_4566" align="alignleft" width="300"] Mogos Islands mark the highest waters of Golfo Dulce.[/caption] By Brooke Bessesen While Jorge and I both loved working on the water, the results of our research brought the greatest rewards. Golfo Dulce is a true bio-gem—one of Costa Rica’s preeminent riches. Several hundred Green sea turtles, critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtles, Olive Ridley sea turtles and (reportedly) Pacific Leatherback sea turtles, rest, feed, mate and nest in the gulf. A rare xanthic colony of pelagic sea snakes resides around the inner basin. Both Northern and Southern Hemisphere Humpback whales enter the inlet to give birth and possibly provide sanctuary for young calves. Whale sharks aggregate in Golfo Dulce. Resident dolphins and other toothed cetaceans breed and raise offspring. Scalloped hammerhead sharks are born there and needlefish spawn. What a remarkably vibrant bionetwork!
Uncategorized / 10.10.2012

Cada año desde hace cuatro años voluntarios se reúnen para recolectar los desechos de la playa y el manglar de Puerto Jiménez. Este año contamos con el apoyo de un grupo de estudiantes del Colegio Técnico de Puerto Jiménez, de los hoteles Bosque del Cabo y  Nicuesa Lodge, los bomberos y el Área de Conservación de Osa. La jornada se inició a las 8.30 am y finalizó a las 12 pm. Se separaron los desechos reciclables como botellas plásticas, latas de aluminio y acero, y vidrio; estos fueron...

Community Outreach, Marine Conservation / 08.10.2012

[caption id="attachment_4531" align="alignleft" width="300"] Panelists discuss the environmental impacts of the proposed marina project at a community forum[/caption] By Andrea Johnson For the last two weekends, hundreds of people from Puerto Jimenez and surrounding towns have crowded together into small hot rooms for hours on end to engage in heated discussions about a very important current affair that is getting people talking in the Osa Peninsula. And there's not a soccer ball in sight. The events are a series of community forums revolving around a proposed development project. Five hour long public forums; democracy can be painful. The project in question is a marina and mega resort-style complex that the owners of Crocodile Bay Resort, an all-inclusive sport-fishing resort in town, want to build out into the waters off the town’s public beach. This would be the first marina to be built on the Osa Peninsula or in the Golfo Dulce, a globally unique marine ecosystem.
Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Sea Turtles / 01.10.2012

It was a beautiful sunny day in Carate, where the fourth annual Osa Peninsula Sea Turtle Festival took place last Sunday, September 23. The Sea Turtle Festival aims to raise community awareness about the importance of joint efforts in the conservation of sea turtle species that frequent Osa beaches in the nesting months, and to share the objectives and results of Osa Conservation's Sea Turtle Volunteer program with the community. People from Carate, and other surrounding areas such as Piro, Rio Oro and Puerto Jimenez made their way out to the festival around 10 am, where they found music, food, drinks, face paint, and educational posters about Sea Turtle activity and Osa Conservation's work in Piro, Pejeperro and other beaches on the peninsula.
Community Outreach, Marine Conservation / 26.09.2012

[caption id="attachment_4426" align="alignleft" width="300"] Luis Daniel Montero is a kayak tour guide and a local activist[/caption] Luis Daniel Montero is a 22-year-old kayak tour guide and volunteer for ASCONA (Asociacion De Servicio Comunitario Nacional y Ambiental), a local non-governmental organization dedicated to community service and environmental conservation on the Osa Peninsula. Along with a few other ASCONA volunteers, Daniel, as he prefers to be called, is part of an extremely passionate group of activists protesting an American business-owner's proposal for a large marina development project on the Gulfo Dulce, a proposal met with considerable opposition among Osa residents and various conservationists on and around the peninsula.
Science and Research / 14.09.2012

[caption id="attachment_4406" align="alignleft" width="241"] The view from Cerro Osa[/caption] We at Osa Conservation would like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to Samantha Weintraub, Kevin Smith and Juan Manuel Ley, this year’s Greg Gund Memorial Fellowship recipients. Osa Conservation’s Greg Gund Memorial Fellowships provide funding for Costa Rican and international researchers to conduct science-based research in the Osa Peninsula. These fellowships are provided through the generous support of the Gund family. Kevin will be studying amphibian populations, communities and habitat in the southern part of the peninsula and will be developing materials for participatory amphibian monitoring projects on our properties in Osa. These will be a great tool to support of citizen science at our stations!
Sea Turtles / 11.09.2012

[caption id="attachment_4373" align="alignleft" width="300"] A Green sea turtle nests on Pejeperro Beach[/caption] With the same clumsiness as their mothers, the small reptiles descend slowly down the sloped beach. One by one they go, leaving behind a trail of life in the sand. Seven weeks ago, after a journey spanning hundreds, perhaps thousands of kilometers, an adult olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) pushed through the foaming waves on Pejeperro beach in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, to begin an ancient, unique and exquisite journey.
Uncategorized / 11.09.2012

[caption id="attachment_4373" align="alignleft" width="300"] A Green sea turtle nests on Pejeperro Beach[/caption] Con la misma torpeza que sus madres, los pequenos reptiles descienden lentamente por la playa inclinada. Uno a uno van dejando tras de si un rastro de vida en la arena… Siete semanas atrás, después de un viaje de  cientos, quizás miles de kilómetros una tortuga Lora  adulta (Lepidochelys olivácea) se abrió paso entre las olas espumosas de playa Pejeperro en la Peninsula de Osa, Costa rica, para dar inicio a un ritual milenario, único y exquisito en el reino animal.
Birds, Environmental Education / 07.09.2012

As part of conservation efforts for the Scarlet Macaw, artificial nests have been installed in two colleges and five schools. In each school, trees with easy visibility were chosen for students based on  characteristics of diameter and height for the installation of the nests. Students of these schools attended a workshop on ecology, life cycles and the importance of conservation of the species Ara macao. Students from the 5th, 6th, and 9th grades are in charge of monitoring macaw activities and noting events such as flights and perching near the nests and when a macaw investigates the inside of a nest. They also monitor the activity of other species near the nest.