Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Blog

Back to Blog

Animals of Diamante Series: American Crocodiles

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0038.JPG

From the wild to a safe forever home

Walk into Diamante’s Animal Sanctuary on a Monday afternoon and you might find that the crocodile feeding is going on. On a first glance, you can see they are healthy, non-handicapped crocodiles and wonder why they are here. Diego, Alex, George and Miyagi – our four Costa Rica Crocodiles – where born and raised in the wild and lived a healthy live. So why are they at our animal sanctuary? The answer might not be one you expect: an exponential increase of crocodile population near human civilization.

We are not here to tell you why climate change is affecting their reproduction and widespread of population; but we can let you know that there are ways to keep our wildlife save without recurring to hunting.

Background story

Diego, Alex, George and Miyagi where born at Rio Tempisque, Nicoya – just a few hours away from Diamante Eco Adventure Park. Given that they were born in the wild, we cannot tell you with exactitude how old they are. We know they are around 20 years old and can live up to 100 years. Due to an increase in male crocodile population, our four musketeers ventured to find a new territory at the Tempisque River. They hit jackpot: agricultural fish farms.

Diego is our biggest crocodile, measuring 3.70 meters

Our four friends where in fish heaven: easy, ready food whenever they needed it and not worry about the trivialities about hunting. But they didn’t realize this would be a huge problem with the humans. Measurements were taken by the owners of the fish farms. First they tried safe guarding the farms with more barriers. When that didn’t work they contacted the right authorities to have them relocated. Unfortunately, that was just a temporary solution given that every time they relocated the four musketeers, they would come back. Obviously, because who doesn’t want free food? But what to do with four grown crocodiles, threatening not only a business, but the humans working in it?

Alex having a relaxing time at Diamante’s Animal Sanctuary

Permanent Relocation

To avoid an unfortunate “accident” in which four crocodiles would end up dead, the authorities decided to have them relocated to a safe controlled environment. Meaning, they would find a suitable animal sanctuary that met all the necessary requirements. And that’s how we got four fascinating prehistoric creatures become a part of our wild life family!

Their story has inspired us to work harder towards educating our guests on the importance of wildlife and how to co-exist with it. This means respecting their habitats and the importance of protected national parks.

Diego, Alex, George and Miyagi – can you spot all four of them?

Visit Diamante Eco Adventure Park

There are two passes that allow you to visit our costa rica crocodiles Diego, Alex, George and Miyagi:

  • Discovery Pass ($42): Enter our Animal Sanctuary and meet our wildlife family: Lucy the sloth, Nico & Sama the jaguars, Balu the white faced monkey, King Julian our largest iguana and many more!
  • Adventure Pass ($118): experience the full zip line tour plus one extra cable that runs through our animal sanctuary and a hanging bridge over the crocodiles! Finish the tour inside of our top of class animal sanctuary and enjoy our wildlife family. This pass also includes a buffet lunch at the Welcome Center and access to our beach activities (stand up paddle board, snorkeling, kayak and hanging out at the hammocks).

Diamante Eco Adventure Park is open from 8:30AM to 4:30PM – 365 days! For more information visit:

Www.diamanteecoadventurepark.com

+ (506) 2105-5200

Pura vida!