Baby white nosed coati

This baby white nosed coati was part of a group of about 15 coatis that ran across the road near our vehicle as we drove from Palo Verde National Park back to Tamarindo. Although coatis are classified as carnivores, like many Costa Rican carnivores, they actually prefer fruit to meat.

Coatis are part of the family of mammals knows as procyonidae. There are three species commonly seen in Costa Rica, white nosed coatis, kinkajous, and northern raccoons, which I have shown in the past on this website.

The white nosed coati's scientific name is nasua narica. In Spanish they are called pizote.

Costa Rica is unusual because it is one of the few areas of the Western Hemisphere where the mammal species living in the area today are the same as when Europeans first arrived.

Tropical mammals differ from mammals in temperate climates because they do not hibernate. It is too warm and they would expend far more energy sleeping than a mammal's body could store. Also, their predators and bothersome insects are active all year, unlike in colder climates.