Manuel Antonio National Park packs more visible wildlife per square kilometer than almost anywhere else in Costa Rica. As local naturalist guides who walk these trails every day, we wrote this guide so you know which animals you can see, where they spend time and the best time of day to look.
Wildlife spotting chart
| Animal | Scientific name | Chance | Best time |
|---|---|---|---|
| White-faced capuchin monkey | Cebus imitator | Very high | All day |
| Three-toed sloth | Bradypus variegatus | Very high | Early morning |
| Two-toed sloth | Choloepus hoffmanni | High | Early morning |
| Howler monkey | Alouatta palliata | High | Dawn and late afternoon |
| Squirrel monkey | Saimiri oerstedii | Medium | Morning |
| Green iguana | Iguana iguana | Very high | Midday |
| Common basilisk | Basiliscus basiliscus | High | Morning, near water |
| White-nosed coati | Nasua narica | High | All day |
| Fiery-billed aracari | Pteroglossus frantzii | Medium | Early morning |
The three monkeys of Manuel Antonio
White-faced capuchin monkey
The most famous resident of the park. Intelligent, curious and bold, capuchins travel in troops and are often seen at eye level near the beaches. Never feed them; it changes their natural behavior and makes them sick.
Mantled howler monkey
You will probably hear them before you see them. The male’s roar carries through the forest. Howlers are vegetarians and spend much of the day resting high in the canopy; dawn is the best time to catch them moving and calling.
Central American squirrel monkey
The jewel of Manuel Antonio. This small, orange-backed monkey is endangered and lives only on Costa Rica’s central and southern Pacific coast. Troops move fast through the mid-canopy, and a guide who knows their routes makes a major difference.
Sloths: the stars of the park
Manuel Antonio has both Costa Rican sloth species. The brown-throated three-toed sloth is active by day and favors cecropia trees. The larger Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth is mostly nocturnal, so by day it sleeps curled into a ball high in the canopy.
Reptiles, birds and forest-floor wildlife
Green and black iguanas, basilisk lizards, agoutis, coatis and raccoons share the trails and beach forest with fiery-billed aracaris, toucans and hundreds of other bird species. No sighting is guaranteed; that unpredictability is part of a genuine wild encounter.