Fauna of Central America

Central America is the region that commences at the narrow Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico and extends all the way down to the Atrato River valley, just east of the Panama border in Colombia, South America. Situated in the Western Hemisphere, it is a tapering isthmus, often called the land bridge, that joins the two continents of North and South America. Central America is part of North America, and includes Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.

The world is divided into six biogeographic regions based on the characteristics of the native plant and animal species. The Neotropical area begins at the southern border of the Mexican desert and continues through Central America to the sub-Antarctic zone of South America to the south, and the West Indies to the east. There is significant mixing and influence from the northern continent, as well as endemic species that evolved in western Panama, eastern Costa Rica, and the highlands of Guatemala, Honduras, and northern Nicaragua.

The marsupials are the older indigenous mammals. After the land bridge was created, there was an influx of North American mammals into the once-isolated ecosystem of Central and South America. This explains why many creatures of the Central American regions seem to have close ties to North American animals. The more recent arrivals (about three million years ago) are the rodents, including guinea pigs, and porcupines, tapirs, bats, deer, and guanaco, as well as carnivores such as the margay and jaguarundi. These are the more efficient placental mammals that have adapted and survived in the evolutionary and predatory struggle.

Warm-Blooded Vertebrates

The forests of Central America have a relatively meager population of mammals compared to reptiles, and it hosts widely varying species of birds and insects. The isthmus is the natural habitat of the jaguarundi, margay, jaguar, and ocelot. These species are excellent examples of the adaptation process of North American mammals that migrated south, eventually evolving into unique and well-situated species. The jaguarundi is a small, unspotted cat found only in the New World. It is also called the otter-cat because of its otter-like countenance and swimming ability. It lives in the forested and brushy regions near water and is very rare north of Mexico. Similarly, the coati or coatimundi is an animal like a raccoon (family Procyonidae), with a body that is slimmer, has a longer tail, and an elongated flexible snout. Like an anteater, this animal uses its snout to find insects in the ground, yet it can also climb trees to acquire birds and eggs, with a preference for fruits and berries. The Central American species is classified as Nasua narica. Other animals migrated to the central region but did not change much from their North American counterparts—the coyote, gray fox, and puma.

On the other hand, some South American animals used the isthmus as a conduit to the northern continent. Some examples of these northbound animals are the armadillo, marley, opossum, anteater, and kinkajou. This north-south migration is why the Central American region has a mixture of Neartic (northern) and Neotropical (southern) animals. Armadillos are mammals that are related to the sloth and anteater and inhabit open areas as well as forests. These animals have an armor plating on their bodies as a shield against predators. Although most anteaters are arboreal, with a prehensile tail, the giant anteater is not a climber. The opossum is an arboreal marsupial with an ability to swim. The kinkajou is a relative of the raccoon but behaves like a primate. In fact, scientists have been known to mistakenly group them with lemurs. Kinkajous are carnivores with a prehensile tail and are both arboreal and good swimmers. The giant tree sloth, a slow-moving arboreal mammal, makes Panama its home.

Primates of Central America are another group of interesting mammals. The New World monkeys are typified by their prehensile tails. They reside in forested areas. Honduras is home to the howler, spider, and capuchin monkeys. The red-backed squirrel monkey is found in Panama and Costa Rica. This monkey was long valued by the biomedical industry, but it became endangered in 2021.

Other unusual mammals found in this region are the manatee and the river otter. The spectacled bear is found in Panama. Bats are diverse and plentiful. The bloodsucking vampire bat is an endemic species of this area.

South America is called the bird continent, and the avian population of Central America harbors an enormous number of bird species. They are a unique mixture of birds found in both the northern and southern continents, as the isthmus serves as a migratory path between the two. Hummingbirds and parrots are perfect examples of this mixing. Brilliantly colored toucans and macaws are also characteristic of this region. The resplendent quetzal is a type of trogon with iridescent feathers. It is on the flag and national emblem of Guatemala, where the monetary unit is also called a quetzal. Similarly, white-tailed deer are a national symbol of Costa Rica and Honduras. The mountain tapir, the largest mammal native to Central America, is the national animal of Belize. Panama’s national bird, the predatory harpy eagle, is among the most powerful eagles and hunts macaws, sloths, and monkeys. However, it has been driven nearly entirely out of its Central American habitat due to climate changes and deforestation. The crested eagle of El Salvador is becoming rarer in the twenty-first century due to extensive logging and the loss of its natural habitat.

Cold-Blooded Vertebrates

Fish life is prolific in Central America. Most fish belong to the following groups: catfish, characins, the pacus, the air-breathing eel, and the cichlids. Catfish make up about half of the total fish fauna, the characins are noted for containing the flesh-eating piranha, eels stun their prey with electric shocks, and the cichlids are similar to North American sunfish. One of the more interesting freshwater-living animals is the bull shark found in Lake Nicaragua. The lowlands of Belize, with their mangroves and swamps, are the prime environment for the lungfish, which breathe through their lungs instead of gills. Other fish include billfish, dorado, yellowfin tuna, and bass.

Central America flourishes with a multitude of reptiles and amphibians. The effects of solitary evolution and divergent speciation are evident among these animals. In Costa Rica alone, there are between 130 and 190 species of frogs. The critically endangered Panamanian golden frog is native to Panama’s Cordilleran Mountains, though it may be extinct in the wild. From rare, voracious mammal-eating frogs to beautiful but deadly venomous ones, Central America is host to all. Some of the largest snakes in the world, such as the boas and the anacondas, make the tropical forest their home. Some of these constrictors can devour caimans and mammals. There are also colubrids or coral snakes, green snakes that have adapted to living in trees, the ground, the water, and in burrows. Crocodiles, caimans, lizards, iguanas, salamanders, geckos, turtles, and tortoises are all part of this ecosystem. The crested basilisk lizard, a type of iguana, lives on stream banks. This lizard is known in Spanish as Jesus Cristo because it appears to have the ability to walk on water, which it does by skimming over the surface very fast.

Indiscriminate hunting and logging have caused many of these animals to become rare or endangered. Additionally, as climate change continues to destroy the region’s rich biodiversity, the remaining habitats become inhospitable to indigenous species. Many Central American nations have passed or are in the process of passing legislation that will prohibit hunting and protect forested areas. It will take concentrated, unified, and consistent effort by these national governments and others to save the unique species of Central America.

Principal Terms

Endemic: Confined and indigenous to a particular region or locality

Habitat: The physical and chemical factors of the environment

Marsupial: A pouched mammal that gives birth to embryonic young that complete development in a pouch attached to the mother’s nipples

Neotropical Fauna: The geographic faunal region that includes Central and South America

Omnivorous: A diet that consists of both plants and animals

Placental: A mammal whose young develop in the uterus and are nourished through the mother’s blood vessels in the placenta

Bibliography

Beletsky, Les. Belize and Northern Guatemala: The Ecotraveller’s Wildlife Guide. Interlink Books, 2010.

---. Costa Rica: The Ecotraveller’s Wildlife Guide. Interlink Books, 2010.

"Central America." San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, animals.sandiegozoo.org/regions/central-america. Accessed 10 Sept. 2024.

De la Rosa, Carlos Leonardo, and Claudia C. Nocke. A Guide to the Carnivores of Central America: Natural History, Ecology, and Conservation. U of Texas P, 2000.

Hall, Heather. "Central America." A-Z Animals, 11 July 2023, a-z-animals.com/animals/location/central-america. Accessed 10 Sept. 2024.

Reid, Fiona. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2009.

Skutch, Alexander Frank. Birds of Tropical America. U of Texas P, 1983.

---. Life Histories of Central American Birds. Cooper Ornithological Society, 1954-1969.