Page 11 - Black Range Naturalist, Vol. 2, No. 2

Notes of interest (see the IUCN listing for this species, for the specifics behind this listing):
• Coatis are generally found in family groups of up to 30, especially after the young are born, when females and young band together to ward off predators and male Coatis. (See “Anti-predator benefits of group living in white nosed coatis (Nasua narica)” by Christine C. Hass and David Valenzuela, 2002.)
• Females leave the band to give birth, rejoining it after a month to five weeks.
• Population density (as opposed to group size) is greater in the tropics than in the southwestern United States.
• In the United States Coatis are rare and in Mexico White- nosed Coati are believed to be extirpated in many areas. In general, the population is believed to be decreasing at a fairly significant rate. (Note, however, the discussion in “Out of Range” in the Winter 2018 issue of New Mexico Wildlife - see below.)
• Year-to-year fluctuations in population occur because of disease and/or food availability. A population in the Burro Mountains is believed to have been extirpated during a Coyote poisoning campaign.
• In New Mexico this species is classified as an endangered species.
• Its diet consists mainly of fruit and insects.
• The species generally prefers pine-oak woodlands and oak and hardwood riparian canyons.
The New Mexico Game and Fish Department has a new online magazine (well, the “online” part is new; it has been published in hard copy and .pdf for many years). The Winter 2018 issue has an article about White-nosed Coatis in New Mexico and possible range expansion. They have been reported at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, at the La Joya Wildlife Management Area, and as far north as Corrales. There are also reports from Las Cruces, Hatch, and San Acacia. (By following the previous link you can not only access the subject article but the entire issue, including links to the .pdf archives of the magazine.)
In the article, Jennifer Frey, a professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Ecology at New Mexico State University is quoted:
“Our historical record is based on a landscape that already changed. We don’t have information about conditions before New Mexico was influenced by Europeans. What people may see as a range expansion may be the species returning to a historical range that had been impacted by humans. Just because we’re seeing something in an unusual place today doesn’t mean it’s unusual for the species.”
In fact, she said, coatis may have been more abundant in the past. One hypothesis is that extensive predator control activities that occurred in the 20th century could have decreased the abundance and distribution of coatis in the state. “It seems as though there has been a range expansion when in fact it is probably representing what their natural distribution is...”
Frey, who has conducted research on the geographic range of the coati and is currently writing a chapter on coatis for a book about carnivores in New Mexico, is a pioneer in Conservation Biogeography. See the “Dr. Jennifer Frey - Mammalian Diversity and Conservation Laboratory” website for more details.
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