Details
Nasua narica
A long-tailed procyonid from the southwestern United States through Central America to northwestern South America. Its pale muzzle, dark facial mask, and upright ringed tail make it easy to recognize while it forages by day.
View in catalogMap: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
White-nosed coatis use dry forest, moist tropical forest, woodland edges, scrub, and nearby grassland. They rest and escape in trees but spend much of their feeding time on the ground.
Nose-to-tail length is about 80-130 cm, with weights from 2.5 kg to about 12.2 kg. The flexible white-tipped snout, dark mask, strong claws, and long banded tail give it a raccoon-like but more slender profile.
Females and young travel in bands, while adult males are often solitary outside the breeding season. By day they probe leaf litter, soil, and rotting logs with the nose and foreclaws.
It is omnivorous, eating fruit, insects, other invertebrates, eggs, lizards, small mammals, and occasional carrion. It climbs well, but much foraging happens on the forest floor.
Males join female bands during the breeding season. Gestation lasts about 10-11 weeks, and females give birth to roughly two to seven young in tree or vegetation nests.
Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Local pressures include habitat loss, hunting, roads, and food-conditioning around people.
