Monday, March 26, 2018

White-Nosed Coati or Coatimundi

The white-nosed coati, which I knew in my youth as a coatimundi, is one of four species of coati. It is found as far north as southern Arizona and New Mexico to as far south as northwestern Colombia. 

It has a slender head, an elongated nose, small ears, and a long non-prehensile, a ringed tail which it uses for balance and signaling. Males are twice as large as females. It has brown fur with a mix of red and yellow on top and lighter brown on the underside. The lower legs and tops of the feet are blackish/brown.  It has a black mask, white around the eyes, nose and on the inside of the ears. 
As a young boy I read a book on raccoons, coatimundis and kinkajous and dreamed of having a pet coati. 

In La Venta Park in Villahermosa, State of Tabasco, Mexico, we saw many, many wild coatis roaming through the park. They readily came for food and I fed several pieces of a granola bar by hand. These were the first coatis I've seen in the wild and possibly the first ones I've ever seen, even in a zoo. 

1 comment:

  1. Their flag-waving tails are so distinct. I wonder if you could ever tame one enough to snuggle with it like a cat or a dog.

    ReplyDelete