A Family of Coatis!

On a hike in Bear Canyon a while back, I was lucky enough to see a whole family of coatis! Although I've heard of folks seeing coatis in Tucson, until now, I've only seen coatis in Panama, so this was very exciting. The coatis were on the other side of the canyon, but thanks to my telephoto lens, I still got a few reasonably clear shots.

Also known as coatimundis, coati's are in the raccoon family (Procyonidae), which also includes ringtails. The local species is the white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), whose range extends through Central America into the northwestern tip of Colombia.

Can you spot the little juvenile coati? 😍

There were at least five individuals, but there may have been more. Female-bonded coati bands can reach sizes of up to 30 individuals! Among other benefits, group living is thought to help reduce predation by jaguars and pumas.

Individuals within a band are often--but not always--related.

After deftly clambering up the side of the canyon, the coatis started foraging in the shrubs.

This made them much harder to spot, but occasionally one would emerge. Can you find the coati in this photo?

Here it is!

Although the coatis were the most exciting part of the hike, the rest was lovely as well. There were some signs of last year's fire, but not as much as I might have expected.

We started along Sycamore Reservoir trail...

(Seeing water is always a treat in the desert!)

And we continued down into Bear Canyon, stopping only about a mile short of Seven Falls (from the opposite direction as it's usually approached).

Hope you enjoyed the coatis even a fraction as much as I did!