Mammals Daytime

White-nosed Coati

Nasua narica

iNaturalist Wikipedia

Often called the 'Southwestern Raccoon,' the White-nosed Coati is a social, high-energy climber with an unmistakable long snout and an even longer tail.

0 Sightings

0 Habitats

Quick Identification

straighten

Size

Body length of 110 cm (3.6 ft); weight ranging from 3.1–9 kg (6.8–20 lb)

palette

Colors

Grizzled brownish-gray or reddish fur with a white band around the nose and white spots near the eyes

visibility

Key Features

Long, slender tail held vertically while walking
Distinctive white muzzle and 'mask' around eyes
Extremely flexible, upward-turned snout
Long, curved claws designed for digging
Social behavior involving large groups of females and young

When You’ll See Them

schedule

Activity pattern Active during the day

brightness_5

Peak hours 6:00 AM – 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

calendar_month

Season Year-round

restaurant

Diet Omnivorous and opportunistic; they use their sensitive snouts to find beetles, grubs, and spiders, but also consume fruit, lizards, and small rodents.

park

Habitat Woodlands, tropical forests, rocky canyons, and desert mountain ranges.

Behavior

White-nosed Coatis are fascinatingly social creatures, a rarity among the Procyonid family. While their cousins, the raccoons, are solitary and nocturnal, coatis are primarily diurnal and live in highly organized social groups called 'bands.' These bands, consisting of up to 30 females and their offspring, spend their days grooming one another and foraging across the forest floor in a coordinated fashion. Their communication is constant, involving a series of chirps, snorts, and tail-waving signals that keep the group together.

Adult males are the outliers of the species, leading solitary lives for most of the year. This solitary nature earned them the Spanish nickname 'gato solo.' They only interact with the bands during the breeding season. Coatis are remarkably agile, equally at home digging in the dirt for grubs or leaping through the canopy to forage for fruit or escape predators like jaguars or eagles.

photo_camera EverydayEarth exclusive

Camera Tips

To capture the best footage of White-nosed Coatis, focus on their travel corridors. Unlike many mammals that hug the brush, coatis often walk right down the center of forest trails or dry creek beds. Position your camera low to the ground—about 12 to 15 inches high—and angled slightly upward. This 'coati-eye view' captures their incredibly expressive faces and flexible snouts as they sniff the ground. Because they travel in bands, always set your camera to 'Video Mode' or a high-count 'Burst Mode' (3-5 photos per trigger). If you only take one photo, you’ll likely catch the lead female and miss the twenty youngsters trailing behind her.

Coatis are highly motivated by scent. While we don't recommend feeding them, you can encourage them to linger in front of the lens by using a 'scent station.' A small amount of vanilla extract or anise oil applied to a porous rock or log can trigger their intense curiosity. They will spend several minutes sniffing and scratching at the scent, providing you with excellent close-up footage of their unique grooming and foraging behaviors. Be sure to use a camera with a fast trigger speed, as they can be surprisingly quick when they aren't distracted by food.

In backyard settings, coatis are often drawn to water features. A ground-level birdbath or a small pond is a magnet for a thirsty band during the heat of the day. Position your camera to face the water source from the north to ensure the sun is behind the camera, highlighting the grizzled texture of their fur without blowing out the highlights on their white facial markings. Since they are active during the day, you don't need to worry as much about 'white-out' from infrared flashes, but high-quality glass lenses will help capture the subtle color variations in their coats.

Similar Species

Species that look similar or are commonly confused with White-nosed Coati.

Ringtail

Much smaller and cat-like, Ringtails are strictly nocturnal with massive eyes and a much larger, fluffier ringed tail.

South American Coati

Very similar but found south of the Amazon; has a more reddish-orange coat compared to the grizzled brown of the White-nosed Coati.

Browse all Mammals arrow_forward

Frequently Asked Questions

White-nosed Coatis are strictly diurnal, meaning they are active during daylight hours. They are most frequently seen during the early morning and late afternoon as they forage for food, usually retreating to the safety of tree canopies at night to sleep.

To attract White-nosed Coatis naturally, provide a consistent water source like a ground-level pond and plant native fruiting trees. They are also attracted to fallen birdseed and compost bins, though it is best to keep these secured to avoid creating nuisance behavior.

They are omnivores with a very diverse diet. Using their powerful claws and flexible nose, they hunt for soil-dwelling insects, grubs, and land crabs, but they also eat a significant amount of fruit, nuts, eggs, and occasionally small vertebrates like lizards.

In parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, they are increasingly common in suburban areas that border canyons or forest preserves. They are bold and curious, often exploring yards that offer easy access to water or food scraps.

The easiest way to tell them apart is by their activity time and tail. Coatis are active during the day and carry their long, thin tails vertically like an antenna. Raccoons are nocturnal, have shorter, bushier ringed tails, and lack the coati's long, flexible snout.

Record White-nosed Coati at your habitat

Connect a camera to start building your own species record — AI identifies every visitor automatically.

Join free Identify a photo