Wonderful Cocos Island
Cocos Island in the central eastern Pacific Ocean lies 523 km southwest of Cabo Blanco, in Costa Rica.
One of the many endemic species found on the isolated Cocos island, the Cocos cuckoo be seen navigating through streamside vine and hibiscus tangles looking for its favourite prey: small native anole lizards.
Like many endemic species on Cocos Island, very little is known of its ecology and natural history.
This island is formed by the only submarine volcano that has emerged from the Cocos tectonic plate.
The topography is irregular with abundant waterways, cliffs, and caves.
High endemism and low biodiversity is often a characteristic of island habitats.
Cocos Island hosts around 235 species of plant with roughly 30% being endemic.
Amphibians are absent, which is not uncommon on islands far from continental landmasses.
Cocos Island is considered one of the 27 areas of avian endemism in Central America and the Caribbean because these endemic birds’ limited range confines them to this ecoregion alone.
There are no native mammals on the island: the pigs, deer, goats, cats, and rats were introduced by humans.
The entire island was declared a National Park and Biological Reserve by the government of Costa Rica in 1978 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.
Most of the island’s natural habitat can be considered intact, despite the negative influence of introduced plants and animals.
After two failed attempts to settle the island, it has remained free of permanent human occupation.
Of the mammal species introduced, wild boars have the largest impact: they limit native plant distribution and destroy their root systems, resulting in increasing erosion.
The priority conservation actions for the next decade will be to: 1) manage the spread of introduced plant species
2) reduce wild boar impact through population management
3) enact restoration efforts for areas altered by previous human occupation.
