Arizona Coati

T

tacgnut

New member
This is one wild looking critter. I would compare it to a monkey and a raccoon. We seen a group along side of a trail down along a creek in a canyon as we were calling for cats.

We spotted them from the truck, got stopped and piled out to try and get a shot, Clint with his Benelli and me with an AR. Paul called with a distress call to get them to stop, just then a gray fox broke out from cover 20 yds from the truck heading to the call. I just happened to be between the call and the fox, the 1st shot hit him low (leg) as did the second, but that just seemed to piss him off, he got up and kept coming??? Two more shots put him down plus an insurance shot to end his misery, crazy I know. He ended up with 4 entrance holes in him, none were well placed. I apparently failed to hold a little high on such a close target. There was very little if any pelt damage.
I reloaded my 5 round mag and went over to back Clint up, by this time he was about out of ammo and the Coati were heading up the side of the canyon. We were finally able to connect on this one before he made it over the top.
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We were riding in the truck when we saw them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

We seen several others but this was by far the largest one of all the ones we seen that day.
It was pretty neat to see how they scaled the side of the canyon. They've got some nasty looking front claws. Not sure if they climb trees, just seen them on the ground and up in the rocks.
 
Actually that is a pretty good sized Coati. Adults range in size from 13" to 27" from nose to tail and 7 to 15 lbs depending on sex and age. Very neat creatures. They are a member of the Raccoon family and are excellant climbers and even better diggers. Unlike their cousin the Raccoon though, Coati are diurnal rather than nocturnal. They are also omnivores. The white nose Coati are the ones that inhabit Southern Arizona and their coats can vary in shade from fairly dark like tacgnut's to several shades lighter. The lighter shade version seems to have a more distinct white ring around their nose area. Everything I have ever read about the Coatimundi says that they have far greater than average intelligence.
 
I always thought they were mainly in southern and eastern AZ but I have been seeing them for the last two years up near the rim near payson. They are also aggresive little buggars and they do climb trees very well.
 
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