Mountain Coati (Nasuella meridensis, Nasuella olivacea): Ringtail of Lofty Andean Highlands

by DerdriuMarriner

The mountain coati (Nasuella spp) is a charmingly photogenic, elusively agile, environmentally critical wild dweller of lofty heights in northern South America's northern Andes.

The least studied carnivore in the world can be considered a ghost species.

The term designates a living organism whose information is collected through examination of specimens in the collections of natural history museums. The data-gathering sometimes gets supplemented by the in-house commentaries and scholarly publications of the institution’s departmental curators. Empirical evidence and scientific summaries give clarification or inject confusion depending upon:
•potency of technology;
•precision of identification;
•purity of specimen.

The dubious distinction of being the world’s most un-researched meat-eater goes to the Andean mountain coati of northern South America. The honor lingers despite the nimble mammal’s sharing name recognition with:
•beloved brown-nosed coatis (Nasua nasua) of continental South America and insular Chile;
•lovable white-nosed coatis (Nasua narica) of mainland Central, North and South America and insular southern Mexico.
It also makes possible:
•misidentification of animals in captivity and in the wild;
•misperception of species’ lifestyles;
•misunderstanding of wilderness’ stresses.

All three obstacles may be encountered in the case of the mountain coati. For example, zoo personnel and visitors in Broussard, Louisiana; Columbus, Ohio; and Moorpark, California misidentify the more accessible brown-nosed coati as the more elusive mountain coati. Researchers and wildlife-lovers misperceive the obligate role of mountain coatis solely as pollinators and seed-dispersers.

Excepting locals and poachers, everyone misunderstands the consequences, for high altitude-adapted wildlife, of agro-industry’s expansion into loftier elevations.

White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica): their habitat is north of North Andean mountain coati's homeland.

Guatemala
Guatemala

 

Mountain coatis belong to the genus Nasuella within the raccoon family, Procyonidae. Scientists consider the mountain coati a sister lineage geographically sandwiched between two expressions of the genus Nasua.

  • To the north of the north Andean mountain coati is the white-nosed coati’s northern neotropical homeland.
  • To the northeast and south lies the brown-nosed coati’s central/southern neotropical domain.

Brown-nosed and white-nosed coatis overlap in enough habitat preferences and structural features to justify occupying one genus. They prefer such diverse geographical distributions and preserve such unique external traits as to warrant occupying different species. Brown-nosed and white-nosed coatis resemble one another more closely than the mountain coati. Mountain coatis – slightly but sufficiently – recall brown-nosed coatis to the inexperienced viewer.

Even for experienced viewers, identification issues arise over a mountain coati’s species. There in fact can be more than one kind of mountain coati. The genus Nasuella divides into two species:

  • The eastern mountain coati, whose scientific name is Nasuella meridensis;
  • The western mountain coati, Nasuella olivacea.

Both the eastern and the western mountain coati may be intended when the following common names are employed:

  • Coatí andino, cuchucho andino, and cusumbo andino in Spanish;
  • Dwarf coati and little coati in English.

The western mountain coati additionally responds to the common names of:

  • Coatí quiteño, cuchucho quiteño, and cusumbo quiteño in Spanish;
  • Quito coati in English.

The western mountain coati further subdivides into the subspecies Nasuella olivacea quitensis.

 

16th century watercolor of mountain coati by Ulisse Aldrovandi (September 11, 1522 – May 4, 1605)

Aldrovandi described the mountain coati as belonging to Tasso marino or Tassus marinus.
Aldrovandi, Tavole di Animali, tomo VII-2, folio 87r
Aldrovandi, Tavole di Animali, tomo VII-2, folio 87r

 

The head-and-body length of the mature mountain coati can hover around 14.17-15.35 inches (36-39 centimeters). Some sources describe the known maximum head-and-body length as reaching 31.5 inches (80 centimeters). The mountain coati’s tail length matures to a length about 50-65% of the head-to-rear length. The 6-8 ringed tail typically measures 7.87-9.45 inches (20-24 centimeters). The mature shoulder height may reach 26.38-29.53 inches (67-75 centimeters). The hair-covered, rounded, short ears realize mature lengths of 14.96-20.47 inches (38-52 centimeters). They represent a cuddly contrast to the mountain coati’s elongated, pointed snout.

Aggression, meal-time and vocalizations reveal 36 adult teeth portioned – to each side (left, right) of each jaw (lower, upper) as:

  • Two canines;
  • Three incisors;
  • Two molars;
  • Three premolars.

 

Mountain coatis exhibit darker or lighter variations of black, brown and grey. The face has no symmetrically rounded markings to accentuate the arboreal mammal’s ears, eyes, muzzle or snout. From head to rear, the mountain coati impresses viewers with the general uniformity of a black or grey to olive brown coat. Golden yellow-tipped, longer hairs regularly lighten a brown mountain coati’s coat. Darker colors predominate along:

  • Legs, which may be black or dark grey;
  • Tails, which showcase distinctly black or olive brown rings.

The eastern mountain coati tends toward:

  • Lighter, paler colors;
  • Shorter tail lengths;
  • Smaller shapes, teeth and weights.

They additionally will differ from western mountain coatis in exhibiting a dark mid-dorsal stripe along the back.

 

 

Little coatis are native to the world’s longest continental mountain range, the Andes of western South America. Eastern dwarf coatis favor southwestern Venezuela’s Andean highlands. Western dwarf coatis inhabit the Andean highlands which traverse the Latin American countries of:

  • Colombia and Ecuador;
  • Peru, where they constitute one of the 21st century’s scientific discoveries, with hither-unknown populations settled in the Apurímac-Cuzco area, 620+ miles (1,000+ kilometers) from the species’ known range.

In so doing, mountain coati ranges may overlap with those of brown-nosed coatis. Any overlap pertains to the same slopes at non-overlapping elevations.

  • Eastern mountain coatis prefer altitudes of 6,600-13,000 feet (2,000-4,000 meters) above sea level.
  • Western mountain coatis remove to elevations of 4,300-13,940 feet (1,300-4,250 meters).

 

Alpine tundra and cloud forests cover the landscapes in which a dwarf coati’s life unfurls. The term alpine tundra describes the type of vegetation that grows in what Spanish language-speakers call the páramo. High mountain vegetation mainly involves:

  • Grasses;
  • Rosette plants;
  • Shrubs.

It is found between a mountain’s continuous forest and permanent snow lines. Such lofty elevations project a predominantly foggy, misty look. For example, the upper tree canopy in Andean fog forests reaches into low-lying clouds so that the tops are not visible from the ground. Frequent rainfall events and high moisture levels yield:

  • Aerial flowering plants, such as bromeliads and orchids;
  • Filmy ferns;
  • Lichens and mosses;
  • Stunted, thick-trunked trees such as alders, laurels, and oaks.

 

Páramo landscape of dwarf coati

Boyacá, central Colombia, almost entirely within Eastern Cordillera mountains to Venezuelan border
Páramo de Rabanal, Boyacá, central Colombia
Páramo de Rabanal, Boyacá, central Colombia

 

Little is known about the lifestyles of either the eastern or the western mountain coati. Researchers speculate that the low crowns and sharp crests that characterize a mountain coati’s teeth reflect a diet that is:  

  • Higher in amphibians, arthropods, and small mammals and reptiles;
  • Lower in fruits.

They suggest that female mountain coatis – who forage in bands -- consume more beetles, grubs and termites. They think that male mountain coatis – who forage alone – eat more frogs, lizards and mice. They understand from area farmers, hunters and trekkers that older females will bark alarm and send all males and juvenile females scampering up trees when such predators as boas, jaguars and raptors attempt to interfere with meal-time foraging.

 

Andean mountain coatis appreciate spending as much time as possible in platform nests in a tree’s upper canopy. They contribute to tree health by eating bark-dwelling arthropods. Their powerful limbs and reversible ankles nevertheless encourage them to descend trunks, head-first and squirrel-like. On the ground, they perform the additional environmentally-friendly roles of:

  • Aerating the soil by digging – which leaves as many as 5,000+ fine holes over a 35-square-mile (90.65-square-kilometer) area and prevents claw overgrowth -- for sub-soil and surface-level animals;
  • Controlling population levels and predator-prey interactions through natural enmity toward amphibians, arthropods, and small mammals and reptiles;
  • Dispersing seeds;
  • Pollinating plants through nectar-licking.

Mountain coati behavior in non-foraging matters – such as breeding, gestating, and kit-raising – remains mysterious.

 

Typical páramo vegetation, Lake Caricocha, northern Ecuador

Mojanda caldera
Mojanda caldera

 

Local farmers, hunters and trekkers are traditional eyewitness sources to mountain coati behavior. Historically, they nevertheless face challenges in obtaining information since dwarf coatis usually avoid interactions outside their band and their predator-prey obligations. But the situation inexorably is changing because of agro-industry’s conversion of:

  • Cloud forest lands into agriculture;
  • Páramo lands into pine forests.

The development of ever higher mountain slopes in fact may be responsible for habitat degradation and losses that are estimated at over 36% in terms of traditional Andean mountain coati-dwelling zones. It may result in higher visibility for the elusive dwarf coati. Little coati interactions with farmers already seem to be on the increase since foraging now includes farm animals and crops.

 

The future depends upon the dwarf coati’s strongest advocate and fur-and-meat-hunting predator: humankind. Optimism hinges on:

  • Colombia’s Bioparque La Reserva at Cota;
  • Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Mammals Curator Kristofer Helgen’s research.

Such wildlife-urban interfaces impact distances between mountain-dwellers and mountain-lovers. They inspire stresses unknown to previous time-dwellers. They simultaneously jump-start real-timing mountain coati life-stories beyond excellent “ghosts" in:

  • Chicago’s Field Museum;
  • D.C.’s Smithsonian Museum;
  • London’s Natural History Museum;
  • New York’s American Natural History Museum;
  • Quito’s Museo de Zoología;
  • Stockholm’s Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet.

 

They offer fitting follow-ups to Ulisse Aldrovandi’s (1522-1605) and John Edward Gray’s (1800-1875) pioneering depictions and descriptions. For tree-hugging, mountain-loving dwarf coatis, they reinforce Clintonian beliefs “in a place called Hope” (July 16, 1992).

 

woodcut illustration of mountain coati by Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (September 11, 1522 – May 4, 1605)

Ulisse Aldrovandi, De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis (1637), Lib. II, page 267
Ulisse Aldrovandi, De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis (1637), Lib. II, page 267

Acknowledgment

 

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

 

Ulisse Aldrovandi: 16th century Italian naturalist who illustrated Mountain Coati (Nasuella olivacea)

Ritratto di Ulisse Aldrovandi ("Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi"): ca. 1582-1585 oil on canvas attributed to Agostino Carracci (bapt. Aug. 16, 1557-Feb. 23, 1602)
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Lombardy Region, northwest Italy
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Lombardy Region, northwest Italy

Image Credits

 

Guatemala: Dennis Jarvis from Halifax, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_archer10_(Dennis)_-_Guatemala-1733.jpg

16th century watercolor of mountain coati by Italian Renaissance naturalist, botanist and entomologist Ulisse Aldrovandi (September 11, 1522 – May 4, 1605)
Aldrovandi described the mountain coati as belonging to Tasso marino and Tassus marinus.
Ulisse Aldrovandi, Tavole di Animali, tomo VII-2, folio 87r: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ulisse_Aldrovandi_-_Mountain_Coati.jpg

Distribution data from IUCN Red List: Chermundy/IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mountain_Coati_area.png

Páramo de Rabanal, Boyacá, central Colombia: Patricio Mena Vásconez, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rabanal.JPG

Mojanda caldera: Lee Siebert, Smithsonian Institution, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mojanda.jpg

Ulisse Aldrovandi, De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis (1637), Lib. II, page 267: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulisse_Aldrovandi_-_Mountain_Coati_-_WGA00141.jpg; Public Domain, via Wellcome Collection @ https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dhj55n53/items?canvas=275

Ritratto di Ulisse Aldrovandi ("Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi"): ca. 1582-1585 oil on canvas attributed to Agostino Carracci (bapt. Aug. 16, 1557-Feb. 23, 1602) Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, Lombardy Region, northwest Italy: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ritratto_di_Ulisse_Aldrovandi,_Agostino_Carracci_(attributed).jpg

Chimborazo foothills, central Ecuador: Patricio Mena Vásconez, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erosioenparamo.jpg

 

Sources Consulted

 

Aldrovandi, Ulyssis. Philosophi et Medici Bononiensis. De Quadrupedibus Digitatis Viviparis. Liber Secundus. Bonon [Bologna]: Apud Nicolaum Tebaldinum [Nicolai Tebaldini], MDCXXXXV [1645].

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Frati, Ludovico. "Aldrovandi Tasso marino. Mountain coati, Tavole di Animali VI, 87r bottom (Nasuella olivacea)." Page 227. Catalogo dei manoscritti di Ulisse Aldrovandi. Con la collaborazione di Alessandro Ghigi e Albano Sorbelli. Bologna [Italy]: Nicola Zanichelli, MCMVII [1907].

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Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta. "51. Biblioteca Universitaria Bologna, Fondo Aldrovandi Tavole di animali VI, fol. 87r. The coati is described as a tassus marinus in Ulisses Aldrovandi, De quadrupedibus digitatis viviparis libri tres et de qudrupedibus [sic] digitatis oviparis libri duo, ed. B. Ambrosinus, Bologna, 1637, p. 267. . . .” Page 269. Arcimboldo: Visual Jokes, Natural History, and Still-Life Painting. Chicago [IL] and London [UK]: The University of Chicago Press, 2009..

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Rodríguez-Bolaños, A., P. S·nchez. 2000. Trophic characteristics in social groups of the Mountain coati, *Nasuella olivacea* (Carnivora: Procyonidae). Small Carnivore Conservation, October 2000 Vol. 23: 1-6.

Rodríguez-Bolaños, A., P. S·nchez. 2000. Trophic characteristics in social groups of the Mountain coati, *Nasuella olivacea* (Carnivora: Procyonidae). Small Carnivore Conservation, October 2000 Vol. 23: 1-6.

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Ecology of sustainability of mountain coati populations

Devastation from wind erosion and overgrazing in páramo landscape.
Chimborazo foothills, central Ecuador
Chimborazo foothills, central Ecuador
the end which is also the beginning
the end which is also the beginning

Mammals of the Neotropics (Volume 3 ): The Central Neotropics: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil ~ Available via Amazon

Despite intense interest in this biologically diverse and ecologically important region, the mammals of South America are still not well known. This indispensable guide fills this gap.
South America's mammals

Me and my purrfectly purrfect Maine coon kittycat, Augusta "Gusty" Sunshine

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DerdriuMarriner, All Rights Reserved
DerdriuMarriner, All Rights Reserved
Updated: 10/01/2024, DerdriuMarriner
 
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DerdriuMarriner on 01/03/2014

VioletteRose, Mountain coatis sometimes seem to get lost in the shuffle, especially through misidentification for their more familiar relatives.
They are indeed interesting.

VioletteRose on 01/03/2014

Interesting, I never knew about this animal.

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