Costa Rica offers a wide variety of tropical mammals The national parks and equivalent reserves of Costa Rica protect the nation's most outstanding natural heritage. These magnificent wilderness areas provide shelter for 205 species of mammals, 849 species of birds, 160 species of amphibians, 218 species of reptiles and 130 species of freshwater fish which have been discovered so far. At the same time, the National Parks preserve approximately 9,000 species of vascular plants that have been identified so far. These plant species make up almost 4% of the total number of plants known to occur in the world.