Costa Rica

Black-faced Solitaire at Monteverde, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica - March 2018

The sharp but sweet song of this Black Faced Solitaire reverberated through the entire jungle. Even a year and a half later I can hear it ringing through my ears. Listening to it while hiking and taking in the beauty of the rainforest gave me goosebumps.

The Black-faced Solitaire moves around in between singing, unlike some other birds which may stay in one location. This makes it difficult to find the solitaire but helps protect it from predators. Many of these birds migrate to a lower altitude after breeding. The geographical range includes Costa Rica and western Panama; this species is the only solitaire that resides in this region. Unfortunately, like many tropical animals, the Black-faced Solitaire population has been declining.

Bat at Bat Jungle, Monteverde, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica - March 2018

Although my muscles ached from the hiking and my eyelids felt heavy from the early mornings and late nights, I was determined to make the most of our last full day in Costa Rica. The Bat Jungle is an indoor facility which houses 95 bats and educates visitors about the lives of these creatures of the night. As soon as we entered the viewing area, we could clearly hear the chirping and squawking of the bats' echolocation systems. We stood mere feet away from the bats, giving us an opportunity to observe their variety of facial folds and structures. This particular bat seemed very interested in its watermelon, rarely showing interest in other fruit.

In our current pandemic, bats have come into the public eye more than usual. From a purely epidemiology perspective, bats are the perfect reservoirs for disease. They roost in large numbers close and in proximity to each others, allowing disease to easily spread throughout a colony. The largest colony in the world houses 20 million bats. Being mammals, bats also have somewhat similar physiologies to humans, providing a stepping stone for diseases transmitted from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases). Genetic analysis shows that SARS-CoV-2 (otherwise known as COVID-19) most likely emerged from bat strains of coronavirus.

At the same time, it is crucial to understand how bats are vital to our environment and how human actions have impacted their likelihood to transmit diseases to us. As we encroach upon wild lands, we come further into contact with wildlife such as bats, giving new pathogens the opportunity to mutate and infect us. Urbanization, deforestation, and the spread of agricultural lands are just a few of the factors that are leading to an increase of human-animal interactions.