Children's Eternal Rainforest Guided Tour

Today the Women in STEM group went on a local field trip to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest known as Bosque Eterno De Los Niños (BEN). The executive director of the conservation league, Lindsay Stallcup, answered the participants prepared questions. We learned that the BEN is the largest private reserve in Costa Rica. Montevrrde is known for having 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. Monteverde has 20% of all butterfly species in the world. On our guided hike some groups saw some glass wing butterflies whose wings were clear! We also saw many different bird species such as a Bell Bird, Swallow Tailed Kite, and a Long Tail Manakin. The Swallow Tail Kite bird is one of the only raptors that can eat while in flight. The female Long Tail Manikan bird is more camouflaged compared to their male counterparts in order to be discreet in their nests. 

We learned that the tree stumps in Costa Rica do not have rings to tell the age of the trees due to the lack of dramatic seasons. Instead people use Carbon dating estimation to tell the age of the trees. We learned a lot from our guided tour and are excited to continue exploring Monteverde's diverse biodome. 

-Megan Hoeffler