COATIS

Characteristics

• Average adult weighs about 10 pounds
• bullet Tail: 13-27 inches
• bullet Nose: highly flexible, extending 1 - 3 inches.
• bullet Ears: small, round, mostly hidden in the fur
• bullet Feet: generally like a raccoon, with bare soles, and powerful, long front claws.

range extends from the southwestern U.S. (southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) through northern Argentina.

Diet
Coatis are omnivores; their diet consists mainly of ground litter invertebrates, such as tarantula, and fruit. They also eat small vertebrate prey, such as lizards, rodents, small birds, birds' eggs, and crocodile eggs

Lifespan
coatis live for about seven to eight years, while in captivity they can live for up to 15 years.

REPRODUCTION

• Breeding starts around rainy season
• January and March in some areas and October and February in others
• after a gestation period of about 11 weeks, give birth to litters of three to seven kits.
• Females become sexually mature at two years of age, while males will acquire sexual maturity at three years of age.

BEHAVIOR

• communicate their intentions or moods with chirping, snorting, or grunting sounds.
• Different chirping sounds are used to express joy during social grooming, appeasement after fights, or to convey irritation or anger.
• Snorting while digging, along with an erect tail, states territorial or food claims during foraging.
• hiding the nose between the front paws as a sign for submission; lowering the head, baring teeth, and jumping at an enemy signal an aggressive disposition.

SOURCES
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coati
http://www.montclair.edu/csam/prism/rainforest-connection/panama/mammal-dir...