It was established to protect the forests, fauna and watersheds of an approximately 400 square kilometres (150 sq mi) area of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains.

[3] The name 'Cockscomb' derives from the appearance of the Cockscomb Mountain ridge, that resembles a rooster's comb, which is situated at the northern fringe of the reserve and which is easily visible from the coastal plain of the Caribbean Sea.

The West Basin, being more difficult to access given distance from trailheads and higher forest density, is as of the current time still relatively unexplored from the standpoint of species mapping, Mayan ruins and other environmental details.

Dominant trees in this forest type are mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and cedar (Cedrela odorata), which were prized and hence heavily logged from the early 1900s to late in the 20th century.

The riparian zone forest areas generally feature lush broadleaf rainforest intruding into the verges of fast flowing steep mountain streams as well as the languid meandering valley drainages.

Further exploration of the Cockscomb Basin did not transpire until 1927, when further British expeditions were launched to assess timber reserves; subsequently, logging began to occur until the year 1984, primarily with extraction of cedar (Cedrela odorata) and mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla).

This scientific investigation led by Alan Rabinowitz, a recent recipient of the PhD degree from the University of Tennessee, found that the Cockscomb Basin was a particularly important habitat for the jaguar,[7] not only in Belize, but from a Central America perspective.

In 1986, Rabinowitz and Archie Carr III convinced the government of Belize to establish a no hunting zone with respect to jaguars in a portion of the Cockscomb Basin.