While hiking through the forest near Arenal volcano with my family, we encountered the "furry stumps with claws" shown in the photos.  Can anyone tell us what they are called so we can do some more research on them?

???While hiking with my family through a forest near Arenal volcano in Costa Rica, we encountered the pictured plants, which appear to be furry and claw-covered stumps.  We would love to know what they are called so we can research more about them.

While hiking through a forest near Arenal volcano in Costa Rica, my family and I encountered these stumps which had apparently escaped from the Island of Dr. Moreau.  They appear to be fur and claw covered tree stumps.  We would love to know what they are called so we can search on-line for more information. 

While in Costa Rica we were visited by this beast (see photo). It was about the size of a cigarette packet, could fly (but not very well), and dogs seemed nervous of it.

We haven't managed to identify it and neither could locals or tour guides. We're not even sure what sort of insect it is. Can any of your readers help?

Xavier Gallagher, London, UK