The importance of wetlands
Wetlands, marshes, and lagoons are incredibly important for the health of habitats and our planet. Wetlands account for over 80% of wildlife diversity.
Unfortunately, many wetland habitats have been destroyed over the last two hundred years to make room for cattle or agriculture.
The lagoon at Tapir Valley was restored in 2010 and that work has paid off with an incredible resurgence of frog and bird species that depend on this critical habitat.
In fact, in 2022, a new species of frog was discovered here at Tapir Valley, the Tapir Valley Tree Frog (Tlalocohyla celeste). This is just one of the over 30 species of frogs that depend on wetland habitat that you can see here in Bijagua.
Tlalocohyla celeste
This new species of frog has only been reported at Tapir Valley, and is one of the many frog species that we see on our night tours at Tapir Valley.
Terciopelo or Fer-de-lance
The terciopelo (Bothrops asper) is one of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica and one of the common snakes we see during our night tours.
