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Photo Courtesy of Marianne

Coates

Meet Janine who lives in Costa Rica in the Manuel Antonio rainforest. When she was just nine years old she and a friend started the organization Kids Saving the Rainforest in order to protect the animals and habitats within Manuel Antonio. Today, the organization has an animal rehabilitation center that has cared for and released 50 animals. It has also planted 6000 trees and built 130 monkey bridges! Read on to hear about some of the animals Janine and her friends have cared for!

Janine, Photo By Marianne Coates

Mono Titi An endangered species of red-backed squirrel monkey, Saimiri Oerstedii, also referred to as Mono Titi, is found within the Manuel Antonio National Park (which is now under threat of being developed). Not only is the natural habitat of this squirrel monkey in danger, but they, themselves, are as well. Electrocution from power lines is the number one cause of death among the squirrel monkeys of Manuel Antonio as they use them to cross roads and busy areas.

Photo Courtesy of Marianne

Coates

Kids Saving the Rainforest Is Helping the Mono Titi The Kids Saving the Rainforest have been instrumental in the construction of many monkey bridges, designed to provide the monkeys with safe crossings. The monkey bridges help the Mono Titi to avoid climbing across dangerous electrical lines. To date, Kids Saving the Rainforest has built 130 monkey bridges. This has helped the population of the Mono Titis tremendously. In 2001 there were only about 1200 Mono Titi monkeys left in the area, and now local conservationist Lenin Rosales estimates that there are about 3500. He attributes this growth in large part to the bridges.

Photo Courtesy of Dan Morgan

Two-Toed and Three-Toed SlothsIn Manuel Antonio you will find an animal with 2 toes, but sometimes 3. The two-toed and three-toed sloths are a sight to see. These lazy (hence the name "sloth") animals move at a top speed of 1 mile in 4 hours. Sloths can hold food in their stomachs for a week, so it's no surprise that they only use the bathroom once a week. This weekly ritual brings them down to the ground and away from their natural habitats (trees).

Photo By Sergio Delgado, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

More About the Amazing Two and Three Toed Sloths:After digging a hole to go to the bathroom, it's back up to the trees again. A sloth can live for 20 years and most females above the age of 3 are pregnant once a year, every year. When the two or three toed sloth is threatened by another animal it will defend itself by slashing with its fore claws and biting- ouch!

How Kids Saving the Rainforest Helps Sloths:Kids Saving the Rainforest has a rehabilitation center that helps sloths that have been hurt or orphaned. The organization also has a 4 acre sanctuary for animals that cannot be released back into the wild due to being raised in captivity or having a disability. Check out this handsome sloth named Jesus that is being cared for at the rehabilitation center!

PorcupineThere are special porcupines in Manuel Antonio that have bare tails with no quills. This is so that they can use their tails to swing through trees and forage for food. These porcupines also do not shoot their quills at predators as they do in North America. Instead, these porcupines will run away from danger or curl into a tight ball. Kids Saving the Rainforest’s rehabilitation center cares for these porcupines when they need a safe place to stay!

Thanks so much for hanging out with us and learning about

Kids Saving the Rainforest. If you want to learn more please go to our website:

http://www.kidssavingtherainforest.org/main.html

Photo Courtesy of Doug Morgan