Just got back from SW Costa RIca Sunday, where we did a preliminary census of Crocodylus acutus in the Area Conservacion de Osa (ACOSA). This weather wasn't great, but all in all, we had a decent time, and managed to get 4 night surveys done in 5 nights and one lagoon surveyed via land. This will form the basis for initiating a longer term survey early next year.
In short, we saw between 80-90 crocs over ~10km of river. 2 of the rivers had a density of ~5 individuals/km. One particular river, though tallied 13 crocs in 1/2km! While we observed large animals (up to 3.5m) during the daytime basking, at night they were very difficult to locate, let alone approach in a boat.
The most interesting find, can be seen at the link below: A 70cm juvenile which had just caught and was eating a fishing bat! My friend Ken Barnett made the page below, from digital vid-caps that I sent him. If anyone can point me to any references of SPECIFICALLY American crocodiles eating bats, let me know (I am aware of porosus and Johnston's eating flying foxes, but can't find much on acutus accounts.)
Anyway, enjoy.
MH
www.matabuey.com
American crocodile Eating a fishing bat
