White-Nosed Coati
Coatimundi
Nasua narica

Range

The Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts of southwestern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and the Big Bend to Brownsville areas of Texas.

Habitat

Canyons of desert mountain forests, usually near water.

Description

The Coati is a raccoon-like omnivore, but is more slender and possesses a longer snout. It is a nosy, busy little creature with an insatiable appetite. The Coati is gregarious and noisy as it travel about in groups of from 6 to 24, holding its tail almost erect and chattering with others.

This grizzled gray-brown mammal grows 30 to 55 inches long and stands 8 to 12 inches high at the shoulder. It can weigh from 10 to 25 pounds. Males are almost twice as large as females.

The Coati has a long snout that is white near the tip and around the eyes, which often have dark patches above. The Coati has small ears, dark feet and a long, thin tail (as much as 2 feet long) with 6 or 7 dark bands.

Coatis are diurnal, spending most of the day foraging for food, which includes insects, lizards, roots, fruits, nuts and eggs. They are very fond of fruit, especially the manzanita berry.

Coatis mate in early spring and deliver a litter of 4 to 6 young after a gestation period of about 11 weeks. The female educates and feeds the young from the den site, usually a rocky niche in a wooded canyon.

The only other member of this species, the Brown-nosed Coati (Nasua nasua) occurs only in South America.

-- A.R Royo

Desert Animal Survival - How they live in the desert.

MAMMALS
Armadillo Bats Bighorn Sheep Bear (Black) Bison (Plains Bison) Bobcat Buffalo (Plains Bison) Burros Camels - Southwestern Camel Experiment Cheetah Chipmunk, Panamint Coati, White-Nosed Collared Peccary Cottontail Rabbit Coyote Dama Gazelle Deer - Mule Deer - White-Tailed Dinosaurs Dinosaurs Q&A Dolphin	Elephant Elk Ferret Finback Whale Fox (Gray) Giraffe Gopher Hippopotamus Jaguars Jackal Javelina Wild Horses Kangaroo Rats Lion LLama Mountain Lion Mule Deer Otter - River Porcupine Prairie Dogs Pronghorn	Rabbits - Cottontails Jack Rabbits Raccoon Rhinoceros Ringtailed Cat River Otter Sea Lion - California Skunk Spotted Hyena Squirrel Whale - Finback Wild Burros Wild Horses Wolves Woodrats (Pack Rats) Zebra

 

 

THE DESERT ENVIRONMENT
The North American Deserts
Chihuahuan Desert	Great Basin Desert	Mojave Desert	Sonoran Desert
Glossary of Desert & Geological Term