Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Coati Tuesdi

Peterson Field Guide to Mammals of North America: Fourth EditionWhat a surprise to arrive at one of our bird monitoring sites overlooking Old Bisbee this morning and be greeted by a chirping troop of White-nosed Coatis! These diurnal, social members of the raccoon family recently recovered from a local population crash, so it's particularly nice to see five healthy-looking "teenagers" with five adult females.

Alternate names include coatimundi (co-AH-tee-MUHN-dee, "mundi" referring to the solitary habits of adult males), tejon solo ("lone badger"), pisote, chulo, chulo bear, and chulo monkey. When you see "monkey" in an Arizona place name, it probably refers to these guys.