27 Coati Facts For Kids To Know About These South American Mammals

Similar to its raccoon cousin, the coati species also has the same size as a house cat with a ringed tail and hangs out in trees.

Coatis, belonging to South America, or Central America, are omnivore animals that belong to the family of Procyonidae, which also consists of raccoons. But even though it belongs to the same family as a raccoon, it is not really a raccoon and in fact, is a separate species.

Coatis can be distributed into four types which include:

The white-nosed coati: Also known as pizote, these coatis are usually found in New Mexico, Central America, Southwestern United States, and Colombia. The white nosed coati has a white patch on its' face, unlike other coatis.

The South American coati: Found in the subtropical and tropical regions of central and South America, this coati is also known as the South American coati.

The eastern mountain coati: The eastern mountain coati is found in Venezuela.

The western mountain coati: Colombia and Ecuador are some places where you can find these types of coati.

If this species spends its life in the wild, then its lifespan is seven years but it extends up to 16 years in captivity. The name 'coati' which is short for coatimundi is supposed to have emerged from the Tupian languages known to central and south America.

The word, kua’ti, is a mixture of 'cua' which means 'tim' and 'belt,' which means 'nose,' which, in turn, describes coati's sleeping position tucking its nose in the belly. They have a pretty great sense of smell, and they use their snouts to dig the ground in a pig-like manner to find invertebrates.

They are intelligent and very adaptable animals that can climb and scavenge both in trees and on the ground. Coatis are said to be diurnal animals which means that they are more active during the day than the night.

At night, they usually prefer to sleep in elevated places and niches, much resembling that of the rainforest canopy, but in roughly constructed sleeping nests. They are quite curious and resourceful creatures much like their raccoon cousins.

How To Identify A Coati

Coati has certain identifiers so that you can identify them easily. These include:

The coati has a snout that is long and flexible and can be rotated to 60 degrees in any direction and a tail that is slender and darkly marked and the tail appears erect as it moves.

It has coarse fur which can be ranging from gray to red to even a brown but which looks more like black with light facial markings.

The coati males are about 29-54 in (74-137 cm) in length, half of which only contains the tail and it has a weight from 10-24 lb (4.5-11 kg). The female coati is somewhat smaller than the males.

Their front feet are long and blunt but their claws are a little curved. They have back feet that have comparatively shorter claws. Their toes are connected with a membrane which helps them swim well.

Coatis have a snout and a long tail, both of which are often a different shade than its main body, sometimes with rings or bands of different colors. It also has long ringed tails which, although cannot grip objects, is used as a balancing pole to climb trees.

They have double-jointed ankles and can rotate beyond 180 degrees when they are climbing down trees head-first and also have sharp canine teeth.

Coatis can be very loving pets, especially white nosed coati. They are like puppies when young and bond easily, but an adult is more difficult to bond with.

Because of their high strength, they can injure other pets like cats or dogs or even humans while playing with them, and they can also transmit diseases.

Female coatis form a band of 10-30 in which they live with their children. This band makes a lot of noise while moving about or communicating with each other. They are moody creatures usually grunting and snorting. However, their males live alone, until it's time for mating.

Where do coatis live?

Coatis have certain places where they mostly reside and breed. Some of these places are as follows:

Coatis generally dwell in moist or tropical rain forests and live on the forest floor or in the forest canopy while scavenging. This includes pine forests and temperate oak, and lowland tropical rain forests. Sometimes they are also found in savannas and deserts.

Coatis enjoy a wide range of habitat types which include tropical lowlands, dry high-altitude forests, oak forests, mesquite grassland, and forest edges.

Their mating season usually occurs in the monsoon when abundant food is available. A male joins the female band to mate with one or more of them during this season.

However, pregnant females leave their band and go off alone to live in a nest high up on the trees.

After the pregnancy, which is also called the gestation period, which is equal to nearly three months, she gives birth to at least two to seven babies, which are known as 'kittens.'

Young coatis open their eyes when they are ten days of age, can stand at around day 19, and can walk perfectly by day 24. At 26 days of age, they learn to climb.

What do coatis eat?

There are some foods which coatis generally prefer to eat. These include:

Coatis can eat fruits, invertebrates, small rodents, or lizards. They forage for food on land and occasionally in trees.

When 6-10 weeks have passed, the kittens come back to their mothers in the band where she stayed before. Other mothers in that band also help take care of them.

Their cages are filled with branches for climbing and nets suspended between two points or hammocks which are filled with toys such as bells and dog chews for their young ones.

Coatis are mighty and playful creatures. Don't leave them in a cage all day because they need to play and jump about too.

The female coati uses a barking sound in order to warn their bandmates of danger. They make a small whimper of a sound so that they can keep their young close by during the period of their weaning.

Males, however, follow scent in order to dominate over territories and fend off rivals for their females during the mating season.

Predators Of Coatis

Coatis are beautiful animals. But there are some threats to their existence. These include:

Jaguarundis, boa constrictors, foxes, dogs, ocelots, and jaguars are some known predators of coatis.

Some eagles like large hawks and harpy also hunt them sometimes.

The hunting of coatis is not controlled which leads to risks to the environment of their native places of Central and South America.

The coati also faces a range of threats because it is hunted for meat and fur. They might also be collected as pets, though they don't make good ones.

However, coatis can defend themselves from predators because they have strong front feet and claws.

In New Mexico, the coatis are given protection because they have started declining there and have almost become an endangered species. However, in the rest of the world, it has a good trend in population and is not considered a threatened species.