Vincent Losasso

The forest that I visit in person isn’t the same place my camera traps record. When I’m physically there it takes all of ten minutes of hiking before I cook up a good sweaty dude smell that the wind blows into the discerning noses of all the local fauna. I stomp around, snapping twigs and crunching leaves, making a clear audio signal of my progress through the woods.

An expat in Costa Rica shows how Guanacaste’s beach economy works, from parking guards to pipa fria and copos, and how visitors can support local families.

In Costa Rica’s forests, a wildlife biologist and high school students start using AI on camera traps and jungle audio

Today we discuss a creature that’s very close to my heart, the Baird’s tapir. It’s an enormous, elephant-nosed, whistling, puddle-pooper. What’s not to love? Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) is known as a danta in Spanish. The Baird in the English name comes from Spencer Fullerton Baird, an American naturalist who became the first curator of the Smithsonian Institute. He also has his name featured on a mess of other species including a pocket gopher, a beaked whale, and a rat snake. Good for him.

Living in Costa Rica means sharing space with snakes. Learn simple, practical steps to reduce the chances of snakes entering your home

Cattle ranching has been interwoven into the fabric of Guanacaste for centuries. Historically, enormous haciendas employed sabaneros, Tico cowboys, to raise cattle on the sparsely populated land. Recent history has seen a shift from agriculture and cattle to tourism and hospitality, but you still can’t drive very far down the road without having to maneuver around a herd of hulking cows that are completely indifferent to your driving needs.

Discover the vibrant and family-friendly atmosphere of Costa Rica's beaches during Semana Santa (Holy Week), as locals flock to the coast for a festive celebration.

After years of tracking jaguars on camera traps in Costa Rica, one wildlife guide finally gets a fleeting real-life glimpse of the big cat he had long hoped to see.

Civetone is a powerful macrocyclic ketone and the primary odoriferous constituent of natural civet. Known for its warm, intensely animalic, and powdery-musky scent, it is a key, long-lasting fixative in high-end perfumery.’

Over the years of offering wildlife monitoring services using camera traps, I’ve had many projects come and go. Some last a few months, others last several years. No matter the length of the project, each one comes in two distinct phases, the first phase, the beginning, and the second phase, the rest. The beginning of a project involves more adventure and discomfort, but once I power through that, the rest of the project becomes more comfortable and routine.