Coati Factfile

Scientific Name : Nasua nasua

World distribution

Coatis are found in South America and parts of southern North America.

Habitat

Coatis live in tropical forests or in areas that have plenty of thick bushes and plants. They sleep and nest in trees, using their long claws to grip and their tails to balance.

Feeding

Coatis are omnivorous. They eat insects, fruit, eggs and small creatures such as frogs, lizards and mice. Their long snouts are perfectly shaped for sniffing out food in tree holes and crevices.

Predators

Snakes, hawks and big cats like jaguars and pumas prey on coatis. Young coatis are also eaten by smaller cats.

Breeding

Female coatis live together in groups, but males live alone and are only allowed to join the females during the mating season, because they have a tendency to eat baby coatis! When a female is ready to have her babies she leaves the others and fmakes a nest in a tree, only rejoining the group when her babies are about sex weeks old. Her pregnancy lasts for 74-76 days.

Other interesting facts

• Their long stripey tails are used as body language to signal to other coatis.
• Living in groups helps the female coatis to protect each other and their babies from danger.
• They are very sociable animals, who talk to each other through a variety of barking, growling and chattering noises.
  
  

  Facts and Figures
  Name	coati
  Type of animal	mammal
  Where found	South America
  Habitat	tropical rainforest
  Diet	omnivorous
  Average length	50 cm
  Average weight	5 kg
  Average number of young per year	4
  Gestation	75 days
  Maximum lifespan	14 years
  Note for Teachers

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