ENDEMIC SPECIES FOUND ON THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF PANAMA

Panamanian night monkey

The Panamanian night monkey is a tiny, elusive primate that as the name suggests, is usually only active at night. During the day, families of these monkeys sleep in their ‘roosting tree.’ With a nature guide, you will be able to see the monkeys sleeping while on a walk through the rainforests near Bocas del Toro.

Pygmy three-toed sloth

The pygmy three-toed sloth wasn’t recognized as a separate species until 2001. Endemic to Isla Escudo de Veraguas, an isolated mangrove island, this slow-moving mammal is almost identical to its cousin, the more commonly seen brown three-toed sloth, but is a lot smaller in size. This island is now home to the world’s entire population of pygmy three-toed sloths, which are an extremely endangered species. Life on this remote mangrove island, which is interlaced with channels of water, has allowed the evolution of these sloths to become excellent swimmers.

Central American woolly opossum

Unlike their North American cousin, Central American woolly opossums are super cute. These medium-sized tropical marsupials roam the forests at night, looking for fruit, insects and nectar to eat. As such, they play an essential role in dispersing seeds through the forests. Similar to kangaroos, baby woolly opossums are called joeys and depend on their mother’s protective pouch during their developmental stage of life. Similar to other sloth species, their favourite tree is the cecropia.

Strawberry poison frog

The strawberry poison frog, is found throughout the rainforests on the Caribbean side of Panama. These tiny toxic frogs are usually bright red with dark blue legs, however, in Bocas del Toro, this frog species displays a spectacular array of colour variations that differ from island to island in the archipelago. Some frogs are completely red; red with black spots; green with black spots; orange with black spots; yellow with black spots and even totally green coloured. Even though they belong to the same species, frogs of a certain colour combination will only mate with other frogs of the same colour. If you keep your eyes peeled, you can spot these vivid amphibians in leaf litter and around the base of trees in the rainforest.

Red-headed dwarf gecko

The red-headed dwarf gecko is a tiny, harmless lizard that sometimes likes to live in human houses. They are another vividly coloured amphibian and are nocturnal feeders. Unlike the common house gecko, which is more muted in colour, the red-headed dwarf gecko has a striking, electric blue body with tiny black spots. Like all geckos, they are attracted to lights at night, since the lights attract their food source of smaller insects.

Leatherback sea turtle

The leatherback sea turtle is the largest and most endangered sea turtle in the world. This massive reptile can grow up to 2.15m long and weigh 907kg. From mid-February through mid-July, egg-carrying leatherback sea turtles dig their nests on several beaches along the Caribbean coast. Playa Bluff on the island of Isla Colon is one of the best places to spot these sea creatures.

Montezuma Oropendola

The birdsong of the Montezuma Oropendola is synonymous with Panama´s Caribbean coast. This very vocal and charismatic bird has a wide range of calls, but once you’ve heard it sing, you’ll never mistake it for any other bird. They can be seen hopping from branch to branch high up in the trees, making it somewhat difficult to capture in a photo, but is worth the effort. Oropendolas also build their nests in a specific way that look like a pendulum or cornucopia. In some rainforests, you can see dozens of oropendola nests hanging from a single palm tree.

Keel-billed toucan

Keel-billed toucans are very shy and rarely sit still for very long. But when they do make an appearance, these gorgeous birds are certainly a sight to behold. Their large rainbow-coloured beaks are mainly used to eat fruit, but occasionally they also snack on insects, lizards and tree frogs. keel-billed toucans were widely caught and circulated through the illegal pet trade, but luckily for them it was gradually discovered that they have rather poor dispositions and don´t make the best pets. While they are not currently an endangered species, their rainforest habitat continues to be destroyed in Central and South America, which could mean that they will appear on the list very soon.

Spectacled caiman

Spectacled caimans are relatively small in comparison to their relatives, the American crocodile, which can also be found in Panama. These caimans whose name comes from the ridge between their eyes, prefer calm freshwater but can tolerate a certain level of sea water. One place where you are almost guaranteed see at least one caiman is on the walk to Bocas del Toro’s renowned Red Frog beach.

Three-wattled bellbird

For birders, the three-wattled bellbird is a highly prized bird to spot. This brown and white bird has three distinct wattles hanging down from its face. It also has a unique three-part call that ends in a bonk-like sound. The three-wattled bellbirds are seasonal visitors of Bocas del Toro, but their song is spectacular if you get the chance to hear it. The last part of the three-part call is said to be one of the loudest bird calls on the planet.

Long snouted seahorse

Despite living in the ocean, long snouted seahorses are actually not very good swimmers. The seahorses, which can grow to be 18cm long, camouflage perfectly with their environment, and they spend most of their time with their tails wrapped around a mangrove root, sponge, piece of seagrass or soft coral. Seahorses tend to mate for life, and males carry and care for the eggs. When diving or snorkelling, keep an eye out for these unusual sea creatures.