By Adriana Quesada, Manager of KSTR
As most of you know, a huge storm hit the Manuel Antonio and Quepos area in June, downing thousands of trees and branches, which in turn destroyed numerous monkey bridges.
The KSTR Monkey Bridge Crew went out several times to evaluate the damages, and found that a total of 32 bridges were affected by the storm, some of them partially damaged and many of them completely destroyed.
Did you know that…
Rainforests are primarily defined by two factors: where they are found on the earth and the amount of rainfall they receive. Rainforests are typically found in tropical locations and receive from 160-315 inches of rain per year.
There are 3.4 million square miles of tropical forest around the equator.
While rainforests cover only 2% of the Earth’s surface or 6% of its landmass, they house over ½ of the plant and animal species on Earth.
Read More…
My name is Trevor. I am a volunteer animal rehabilitator working with Kid’s Saving the Rainforest’s veterinarian, Pia, performing rescue, rehab and release techniques for the many sick, abandoned or injured animals that come into the clinic everyday. More recently however, I’ve also taken on the title ‘tour-guide’. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Kid’s Saving the Rain Forest now has a tour! I know what you’re thinking, “Oh, great, another tour in Quepos/Manuel Antonio…”. Well I’m here to tell you that this tour is a little different than the average tour you might find around here.
By Adriana Quesada, KSTR Manager & Monkey Bridge Program Director
Titi on a Monkey Bridge
KSTR has a program dedicated to help the Titi Monkeys (squirrel monkeys), as well as the other species of monkeys that live in the Manuel Antonio Area.
The leading causes of death for this endangered species are electrocution by electrical wires while crossing roads and being hit by cars. That’s why, as part of our plan to help the Titi monkeys, we have placed monkey bridges that cross above the roads of Manuel Antonio and surrounding areas to give these adorable creatures a safer way to travel in the rainforest, to get food, shelter and to be in good physical condition; yeah that’s right, Titi monkeys need to travel 17 km a day to be in good shape.
By Pia Martin, DVM
Right after his surgery
Titi monkeys (saimiri oerstedii citrinellus) are small but very intelligent and dexterous. They are unique to the Manuel Antonio area.
Last august, some kids were visiting Playa El Rey in the National Park and found a very young monkey on the ground, he was hurt and couldn’t move. They felt sorry for the little guy and carefully picked him up and put him in a box. They took him to MINAET not knowing what else to do. MINAET brought him to us. The little titi was about 6 months old and had a very serious fracture in his arm and another in his clavicle. He could have fallen from a very tall tree just when he was learning to move on his own.
These kids saved his life; he would have been eaten by a predator or would have died alone of hunger.
By Pia Martin DVM
Costa Rican national authorities along with the United States signed a symbiotic alliance in January to create the Energy Efficient Center (Centro de Energía Eficiente).
This center will promote research, development, and use of cleaner and more efficient energy that will allow this country to reach its objective of becoming carbon neutral by the year 2021. In other words, Costa Rica wants to mitigate the carbon that is created here.
“This is just the beginning. A committee of eight people will have to identify priorities and the best method to operate”, Gloria Villa, of the Energy Department at MINAET said. She is also very enthusiastic as it is an alliance with the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (RECOPE).
The building to house the project will be located at the University of Costa Rica and the Dean of the University, Yamileth González, stated that this institution will reinforce research on more efficient energy but above all, it will teach the community what is learned.
“This center will also train professionals on efficient energy and clean technologies. Their experiences will help other countries in the region,” said Peter Brennan, in charge of business at the US embassy.
This idea was born last year in Trinidad & Tobago during the Cumbre de las Américas, when US president, Barack Obama, proposed the initiative. Then the regional countries applied with their own projects. “Costa Rica was chosen due to its leadership in environmental issues,” Brennan stated.
The US Department of Energy donated $100,000 as part of a Low Carbon Community Initiative in the Americas, the Presidential House said.
This is great news for Costa Rica, Kids Saving The Rainforest, and the environmental community!
By Janine Lacare
I write to you today to let you know, not so much about the organization, Kids Saving The Rainforest, (KSTR) but more on how it got started. KSTR is a 501 (C) 3, non-profit organization that was founded 11 years ago in 1999 by my best friend Aislin and me.
Here is our story:
Being the young kids that we were, we decided that we wanted to start making money all on our own. We started out by making paper-Mache bottles and painted rocks as paper weights. We set up our little (but crazy-cute) roadside stand on a “recyclable” cardboard box, selling our items to passing strangers. Although we made a couple of bucks of some random passerby’s, our intentions to save the rainforest had not yet begun.
Read More…
by María Pía Martín, DVM
The sloths are part of the Xenartha order which also includes anteaters and armadillos. This bizarre order is only found in Central and South America. They are different from all other animals in that they have an unusual lower back vertebrae and two vena cava (returns blood to the heart, the other mammals have only one).
Evolution
They are some of the most ancient mammals and have been on Earth for more than 60 million years ago. For example, they are so primitive that their reproductive and digestive tract open into a single chamber called cloaca, like birds and reptiles.
At the beginning, the Megatherium were 6 meters (20 feet) tall giant ground sloths.
by Janine Licare, Founder and Spokesperson KSTR
The art of shell collecting dates back thousands of years. Over time, shells have been used as currency, treasures and game pieces to different civilizations. In present times, shell collecting has led to the birth of conchologists, malacologists, among other words rarely used in the English language. The OCD reaction some might have towards picking up shells and storing them on their balcony or in vases in their living room is leading to a shortage in adequate sized homes for small sea creatures. Shells provide shelter to invertebrate animals with no mechanism of protection or self-defense. Every so often these creatures trade homes depending on how fast they out-grow their current homes. Those beautiful shells you keep on your shelves are actually the dead carcasses of sea creatures. When clams, oysters, starfish and mollusks die, their shells wash up on the beach with the tides and are taken as a shelter to those who do not have the mechanisms to create them themselves.