Another nice view

Here's another nice view of a coatimundi (Nasua narica) taken by Frank Buck while at Chan Chich Lodge. This shows the typical stance as the coati moves through the forest, with the ringed tail upright. The males often travel alone, but it is not at all uncommon to see large groups of females and young animals.

Coati Portraits

We are treated to these portraits of coatimundis (Nasua narica) from Frank Buck. They are such curious animals and rarely seem to worried about encountering people which is probably fairly frequently, around Chan Chich Lodge. Frank had this story to share:

"As we walked down a trail, these coatis were coming up. At first they seemed somewhat distressed by encountering us as I shot this picture and the next. As we watched each other, the troupe became more alarmed and dissipated. When we got back to the lodge about an hour later, we learned that two ladies who had followed us had seen a jaguar just a little later in the same vicinity."

Pond Visitor

Here's a surprise: a coatimundi drinking from our pond yesterday! Now understand, our house is about 400 m from the forest. In order to get here, an animal would have to traverse open pasture and roads. Not the best scenario for secretive forest animals.

But then, the coati is not especially secretive nor that dependent on high quality forest. In fact, this species does fairly well in secondary growth and disturbed areas, so perhaps our visitor wasn't all that big a surprise. Related to the raccoon, this is a White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica) also known as "pizote" or "quash."

We've let the hill we live on come back in second growth vegetation and put in a small pond for the birds. Over the years, a lot of other interesting creatures have stopped by, and the coati was somewhat unexpected. Or maybe not. Our small dog had been "telling us" for a week that some new and unusual animal was on our hill. Now I think we finally know what it is.