Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
The competition for resources in a tropical rainforest compels animals and plants to come up with various and very imaginative solutions. This competition is amazing in areas were there is a high biodiversity. Corcovado National Park is one of them.
Today we witnessed this competition and saw the creative ways in which nature enables certain creatures to survive – the camouflage of a katydid, the root system of the figs, the varied diet of the white-nosed coati, the loud cries of the howler monkey and the bright wings of the blue morpho butterflies.
We all visited the forest in different ways; some of us hiked for a couple of hours, others hiked to a beautiful waterfall were they swam; and the rest just walked for a short distance looking for birds and mammals. We all enjoyed our day, but we were perhaps unaware that we were surrounded by one of the most brutal competitions; the struggle for nutrients and a place under the sun. This battle has gone on for millions of years in the tropical rainforests.
In the midst of this battle we found an alien creature, the oil palm tree from Africa which was introduced several decades ago by humans. In spite of being in a hostile environment, this individual has managed to survive in the jungle. This is one case in which both competitors have won the battle for survival on one hand, the forest has managed to survive and on the other, humans have also endured, thus, both competitors have become winners.
The right conservation practices of this area had turned former farms into secondary growth tropical rainforests that will eventually become normal old growth forests full of animals and plants competing for survival, evolving and producing new solutions for their daily existence that could be also used by mankind.
The competition for resources in a tropical rainforest compels animals and plants to come up with various and very imaginative solutions. This competition is amazing in areas were there is a high biodiversity. Corcovado National Park is one of them.
Today we witnessed this competition and saw the creative ways in which nature enables certain creatures to survive – the camouflage of a katydid, the root system of the figs, the varied diet of the white-nosed coati, the loud cries of the howler monkey and the bright wings of the blue morpho butterflies.
We all visited the forest in different ways; some of us hiked for a couple of hours, others hiked to a beautiful waterfall were they swam; and the rest just walked for a short distance looking for birds and mammals. We all enjoyed our day, but we were perhaps unaware that we were surrounded by one of the most brutal competitions; the struggle for nutrients and a place under the sun. This battle has gone on for millions of years in the tropical rainforests.
In the midst of this battle we found an alien creature, the oil palm tree from Africa which was introduced several decades ago by humans. In spite of being in a hostile environment, this individual has managed to survive in the jungle. This is one case in which both competitors have won the battle for survival on one hand, the forest has managed to survive and on the other, humans have also endured, thus, both competitors have become winners.
The right conservation practices of this area had turned former farms into secondary growth tropical rainforests that will eventually become normal old growth forests full of animals and plants competing for survival, evolving and producing new solutions for their daily existence that could be also used by mankind.
