Chordates • Earth.com

White-nosed coati

(Nasua narica)

galery

Description

The white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), also known as the coatimundi is a species of coati and a member of the family Procyonidae (raccoons and their relatives). Local Spanish names for the species include pizote, Mexican Bin-dog',antoon, and tejón, depending upon the region. It weighs about 4–6 kg (8.8-13.2 lb). However, males are much larger than females: small females can weigh as little as 2.5 kg (5.5 lb), while large males can weigh as much as 12.2 kg (27 lb). On average, the nose-to-tail length of the species is about 110 cm (3.6 ft) with about half of that being the tail length. The white-nosed coati is distributed from southeastern Arizona and New Mexico through Mexico and Central America; in Colombia, it is limited to the far northwestern region near the border with Panama. It inhabits wooded areas in tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and in tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests at elevations from sea level to 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Coatis from Cozumel Island have been treated as a separate species, the Cozumel Island coati, but the vast majority of recent authorities treat it as a subspecies, N. narica nelsoni, of the white-nosed coati. They are smaller than white-nosed coatis from the adjacent mainland (N. n. yucatanica), but when compared more widely to white-nosed coatis the difference in size is not as clear. The level of other differences also support its status as a subspecies rather than separate species. White-nosed coatis have also been found in Florida, where they were introduced. It is unknown precisely when introduction occurred; an early specimen in the Florida Museum of Natural History, labeled an "escaped captive", dates to 1928. There are several later documented cases of coatis escaping captivity, and since the 1970s there have been a number of sightings, and several live and dead specimens of various ages have been found. These reports have occurred over a wide area of southern Florida, and there is probable evidence of breeding, indicating that the population is well established. White-nosed coatis are known pollinators of the balsa tree, as observed in a study of a white-nosed coati population in Costa Rica. The coati were observed inserting their noses into the flowers of the tree and ingesting nectar, while the flower showed no subsequent signs of damage.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Mammalia
Order:Carnivora
Family:Procyonidae
Genus:Nasua
News coming your way
The biggest news about our planet delivered to you each day