by Herb DeMars
Costa Rica isn’t very big at all; it’s actually slightly smaller than Lake Michigan. The country is 19,730 square miles (51,100 sq kilometers), out of which 801 miles is its coastline. Lake Michigan is 22,404 sq miles 58,030 sq kilometers
It may not be the biggest country but it’s filled with biodiversity. Costa Rica barely comprises of 0.3% of the Earth’s landmass but it holds more than 5% of its biodiversity.
The country has over 500,000 species of plants and animals, making it the world’s most diverse place in the world in terms of biodiversity.
Speaking of diversity, around 90% of all of Central America’s butterfly species can be found in Costa Rica. This translates to 18% of the butterfly species that exist in the world and 66% of neotropical butterflies.
So much gorgeous flora is bound to attract birds so it’s no wonder that Costa Rica has over 50 different species of hummingbird that comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. The smallest male hummingbird, the scintillant hummingbird, only weighs 2 grams while the largest species of hummingbirds in Costa Rica, the violet sabrewing, weighs about 11.5grams.
You’d think that having more than 200 volcanoes will make Costa Rica a dangerous place to live; fortunately, its volcanic formations haven’t given it much trouble.
Around 112 of Costa Rica’s volcanoes have shown activity; 60 of its volcanoes appear to be dormant, they haven’t shown any activity for many years but there is a possibility that they may become active.
Arenal, Poás and Irazú are some of the most famous volcanic formations in Costa Rica; Arenal is Central America’s most active volcano, Irazú is the tallest volcano in the country and Poás is the world’s 2nd biggest volcanic crater.
