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To date, there have been registered in this area 60 species of amphibians, 101 of reptiles, 425 of birds and 121 species of mammals. This makes a total of 707 species of land vertebrates that represents 50.5% of the total known species in Costa Rica.
The diversity of plant species in the zone is also great. Three thousand and twenty one species of vascular plants only have been recorded, that is one third of the total species of such taxonomic group reported for the whole country.
Other little known species are also endemic to the zone. For instance, about 10% of the total flora recorded is considered endemic to the Tilarán mountain range.
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The Children's Eternal Rain Forest and
Monteverde, as well as other nearby areas, have been the focus of
numerous studies and vast collections of both plants and animals.
Since the 60¹s, many naturalists, students and biologists have
contributed to the knowledge of the cloud forest and other adjacent
habitats.
The knowledge about the number of invertebrate
species in the zone is very scarce for the majority of groups. Very
good inventories of butterflies have been carried out by W. Haber
and R. Stevenson who report 658 species. However, very little is
known about other invertebrates groups.
The climatic conditions and the
topography of the terrain have allowed habitat diversification and a
high degree of endemism. Monteverde is known worldwide to many
people due to the now extinct golden toad
(Bufo periglenis). This species inhabited only the high and humid
parts of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve.