On a hot morning in 2018, we were navigating the Tempisque River within the Cipanci Wildlife Refuge in search of wild animals. While we were reporting on bird sightings in the Tempisque River, a person on the boat began to gently tap the side of the boat. In a few minutes, a crocodile about five meters (16 feet) long slid through the water toward where the boat full of tourists was.
Almost like a domestic animal, it came to where we were and stayed for a couple of minutes even though no one fed it. From time to time, that reptile that aroused the fascination of all the tourists on the boat (including me) is in the eye of the media storm. A few weeks ago, an incident occurred at Tortuga Beach in the canton of Osa, when a family recorded how a crocodile emerged from the water and took their pet. In recent years, other attacks on people have occurred in Matina, Santa Cruz and Tárcoles.
In light of all the news and posts on social media that express concern that there are “a large number of crocodiles,” The Voice asked experts if there are actually more crocodiles in the province or if we are more exposed to them. In short, both things are happening at the same time.
The increase in the number of encounters with crocodiles in recent decades is not only due to conservation measures. We’re providing them with food sources, living in their habitat more and more, creating a business around sightings of them, and as if that weren’t enough, we’ve reduced the number of predatory species.
Invasive neighbors
“The first demographic data on crocodiles in the country dates back to 1989. And I know this because I got them together with a colleague, Gerardo Chávez, also from the University of Costa Rica,” said a biologist specialized in zoology, Mahmood Sasa, one of the most authoritative voices at the national level to explain whether the increase in crocodiles in recent years has been alarming or not.
Sasa affirmed that there is indeed an increase in crocodiles in the country, due to the creation of protected areas and conservation efforts in recent decades. What does not exist is data that confirms that there is an overpopulation of this species.
Overpopulation means that the number of crocodiles reaches a point where this growth causes them to use up their own resources and eventually the population decreases.
“Food runs out, shelters run out. That situation doesn’t exist with crocodiles. They haven’t reached that point,” he explained.
A bad practice is to feed crocodiles for the purpose of attracting tourism. This causes there to be no environmental stress on the animal to fight for food or territory, and to regulate its reproduction.Photo: César Arroyo Castro
In a 2023 report, the National System of Conservation Areas (Spanish acronym: SINAC) concluded that Costa Rica has sufficient studies available to ensure that the abundance of this species is acceptable and covers a sufficiently long period, even though some of this data is outdated.
So who is the invader? Sasa highlighted that the population of Costa Rica went from almost three million inhabitants in 1989, when he and a colleague did the first crocodile demography, to more than five million inhabitants today. But beyond the number of people, Sasa emphasizes that what is important is where those people are living: rural and coastal areas of the country.
A news story that comes and goes
Crocodile season on social media is the mating season, explained Laura Porras, a researcher at the International Institute for Wildlife Conservation and Management (ICOMVIS).
“The two things are mixed together, which boosts the reporting of crocodiles more. August, September and October is the time when males are establishing territories to reproduce. Then the strongest males establish territory and drive all the other males out of the river,” Porras commented.
In addition, these months of mating coincide with the heaviest rains in the country and with the season of flooding.
What happens with the floods? They wash away what is in the river. The crocodile doesn’t just grab onto a branch and wait. It lets itself be carried away and they show up where the water leaves them,” she added.
It’s undeniable that there are more crocodiles in Costa Rica than in the past. In the 1970s, Porras commented, these animals were hunted and trafficked to Nicaragua and the rest of Central America. But it wasn’t a phenomenon unique to our country. All over the world, crocodile populations were reduced to the point of being in danger of extinction.
That’s where conservation policies for this species came from, which has generated the recovery of crocodile populations. That’s why, as we increasingly live near or visit rivers, beaches and mangroves, the interactions we have with them also increase, and some of them have serious consequences.
The hand that feeds them
Conservation policies have been the main reason why this species has been able to recover its population, but that’s not the only one. Some economic activities that have been developed in the province have also contributed.
That scene that we witnessed during the tour on the Tempisque River isn’t an isolated event. According to Porras, this is a bad practice carried out by some tour operators focused on crocodile sightings.
“In zoos, to have control over them at feeding time, they choose a sound, a signal every day at the same time. That signal indicates food and then they arrive. That’s why the guides on these tours do the same thing,” explained Porras.
A crocodile approaches a boat full of tourists during a tour of the Cipanci Wildlife Refuge.Photo: César Arroyo Castro
The researcher affirmed that this type of practice modifies the natural control of these populations, because wild animals regulate themselves by food, shelter and reproduction.
“If we give food to wild animals, obviously there will be more because they have food all the time and they don’t leave. There is no environmental stress on this animal to have to regulate its reproduction or have to fight for food or territory,” the researcher emphasized, and also added that another consequence of feeding crocodiles is that they lose their fear of humans because they begin to associate them with food, which can lead to a risky situation.
We humans have provided these resources unintentionally in the past. When shrimp and tilapia companies set up in the province, they unintentionally provided these animals with pools of water and food.
At some point, it had been said that a lot of tilapia goes out from tilapia companies to natural bodies of water and the crocodiles have plenty of food. Maybe it has already been regulated because tilapia companies have been established there for a long time,” explained the researcher.
Some solutions?
Is there a possible solution? A few weeks ago, in a press conference, President Rodrigo Chaves stated that they will analyze whether it is necessary to allow crocodile hunting in the country.
He said that he was going to ask the Minister of Environment, Franz Tatenbach, to study the situation, but he stressed that hunting is prohibited in Costa Rica, that there is an “extreme environmental lobby” and that, in addition, there is a plan for crocodile management.
“The technicians tell us – and we will have to review it carefully because sometimes the technicians lie or make mistakes, they get things wrong – they say that there is no overpopulation,” he said, and also added that he has eaten alligator and crocodile meat in places where it is legal and that their leather is extremely valuable.
Laura Porras explained that applying this measure is very complicated due to the restrictions, not only national but also international, that protect this species.
“Costa Rica could approve that we make crocodile belts, but we could only sell them among ourselves. We can’t sell them outside the country because there is legislation above that that does not allow us to. We could only do it internally and it isn’t that we have so many crocodiles that we can make use of them like they do in other countries,” explained the expert.
In the state of Florida, in the United States, there is an annual season in which hunting alligators is legal. But their scenario is completely different. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), there are between 1.3 and 1.5 million alligators in the state. There are even tours dedicated to hunting this animal.
It’s a myth that crocodiles don’t have predators in their habitat. Raccoons, coatis and some birds can feed on these juvenile reptiles in their first months of life.Photo: Cesar Arroyo Castro
During the same press conference, Rodrigo Chaves said that crocodiles have no natural predators. This is false. During the growth stage of crocodiles, they are prey for many other species such as herons, raccoons and coatis. But the reduction of these predatory species has contributed to the growth of crocodile populations.
“Each female can lay 30 eggs in her nest, more or less. Of those 30, it isn’t that we’re going to have 30 adult crocodiles. It could be that one or two make it because in the process from being an egg to being an adult, they have many, many predators,” explained Laura Porras.
SINAC’s Wildlife Coordinator, Angie Sánchez, explained that it’s important for SINAC to make a joint effort with municipalities, development associations and chambers of tourism to put signs in places where there are crocodiles present.
We have placed many, many signs and what people do is remove them because they say they scare away tourism, so they remove the sign and afterward, there is an incident. And then whose fault is it?” Sánchez commented.
There are other products that the institution has produced, such as information brochures and coexistence protocols for those who live, work or walk through places where it’s common to see crocodiles (you can download them here).
Biologist Mahmood Sasa believes that there should be zoning where these animals can live without being disturbed and at the same time limit their presence in recreational and animal breeding areas. But he emphasized that decisions must be made based on technical criteria and that they must be respected by state authorities.
You can’t have everything at once, said Sasa. “We want them all mature, we want the photo of the crocodile, we want people to come and see it, we want them to pay us for doing so. But we also want to eliminate it because we want to have a picnic at the water. In other words, let’s decide if we are going to be a green country or a country where there is going to be nothing.”
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