South American Coati

We saw several South American coati, also called ring-tailed coati, in Iguazu Falls, Brazil, during our recent COVID-19 aborted trip to South America. I only have a few photos, and they're not very good, because I thought we were going to be hiking in areas where we would see lots of them later - this was before the "world turned upside down" for us. My hands were full of wet gear after our water-logging trip by boat up the Iguazu River and I didn't get the angles I should have tried for. It was near a food court near the falls. 

The coati climbed this pole and was greeted by another coati already in the rafters of the food court. 

The South American coati is found only in South America in large parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam and slivers of Argentina. The color varies greatly, from an orange/red to almost black, and rings on the tail may only be partially visible. It lacks the largely white snout of the white-nosed coati found further north. There are 13 subspecies, but I have not tried to differentiate between them.