Pop-Sci Monthly Article On The "Coati-Mondi" - Written 141 Years Ago in 1872!

This is just awesome.

Popular Science Monthly featured an article titled "THE COATI-MONDI AND ITS COUSINS" that was written by Rev. S. LOCKWOOD, PhD and published in the December 1827 edition of the periodical. It even features a couple of sketches of the "coati-mondi" (one is posted above).

Being someone who's extremely interested in moments where the coati has turned up in history, this article absolutely fascinates me.

I'm not going to lie, it's an extremely wordy, adjective-filled article with the language of the day. Most people will just skim through it. For those familiar with the coati and its behaviors? Don't skim it. You'll miss some of the coolest stuff that will make you smile because you'll just nod your head that 141 years ago someone was dealing with an animal that's behavior has not a changed a bit.

Lockwood talks about the "Jack" getting into everything, describes the variations of the squeaky language that the coati "speaks", describes its love for eggs, talks about the perfuming of its tail, annoying other animals on the ship....and that's another thing...

This all takes place on a ship!

It's just a very cool moment in time when people were beginning to really document the world around them and exploration was in its modern infancy.

Take the time to read through it and really feel the time period and the environment in which it was written and you'll come away smiling that yet, once again, the coati nosed its way into another part of history.

Read the entire article here

Recent Study on Skulls - Coati Included

A recent study concerning the size of the frontal cortex in relation to proclivity to social activity in animals was carried out. About the coati:

"In her latest study, Sakai examined the digitally recreated brains of three species in the Procyonid family – the raccoon, the coatimundi and the kinkajou – and found the coatimundi had the largest frontal cortex. The frontal cortex is thought to regulate social interaction, and the coatimundi is by far the most social of the three animals, often living in bands of 20 or more."

The other three animals included in the study were hyenas, lions and raccoons. Read the rest of the very brief article

Wonders of the Animal Kingdom - Or how to eat everything in the animal kingdom according to a kids' sticker book.

I've been wanting to get back to this blog for a while. I have a lot of new things to post but would rather feed them out gradually over time than posting them all at once and then having another lull in posting to this blog.

Just a couple of days ago i was killing some time in an antique store in south-ish Florida and came across an old animal book titled "Wonder of the Animal Kingdom" (sorry...didn't look at all the who published/illustrated info).

The book was like a sticker book where you would collect dozens of different kinds of animal stickers and put them in the book in a space for the sticker next to the corresponding animal.

Of course I had to thumb through it to see if there was any mention of a coati.

There was.

Awesome.

Then I read the little blurb describing the coatimundi next to the sticker and my face went blank at the last sentence..."Its snout it large and its meat has an excellent flavor."

Wait...whaaat? "...its meat has an excellent flavor"?

Then I read the blurb above it about "119. The Hog" which stated in the last sentence about that particular animal that "All meat from this domestic animal should be thoroughly cooked before it is eaten."

After a couple more pages of similarly weird descriptions of animals I put the book back in its place under a bunch of other books that no one will probably ever buy and walked off.

Here are the cover of the book and the sticker and blurb about the coati.

Thanks for continuing to read the blog despite the massive gap in posts and I look forward to sharing more awesome things about my absolute favorite animal...the coatimundi.

Snookum Bears on a Rampage!

Originally titled "They Want That-A-Way" and distributed by Universal International, this 1948 Castle film (they're the people that did all the old-school news and informational short film 'reels' from way back before television), was described as 'a trio of bears romping around the great outdoors'. In 1951, the errors of it being a trio and of it containing coatis instead of bears was mentioned in the 'oops-we-goofed' section of their catalog. "The coati is so cute we re-christened him 'Snookum Bear'. The film never really got any traction when it was released theatrically in 1949. So here now is a look at an amazing little short film about four coatis who take up residence on cowboy's ranch and cause a tiny bit of a disturbance in the process. Found via the blog, The Coati Kids

The most adorable heist ever!

A small troupe of coatis pull off the most adorable heist ever in someone's villa at the Banyan Tree Resort in Acapulco.

Coati kept in disgusting conditions, bites owner, gets euthanized.

Another reason that certain people need to take an aptitude test to become a pet owner. This story, coming out of CBS in Arizona, is another sad example of an animal who could've had an amazing life but is instead subjected to an idiot owner. While I'm not a crazy animal rights advocate? I DO believe that if you harm children and animals who don't have much of a choice in the matter? Eye for an eye. This animal could've lived out its entire life happy but because of this individual's negligence, this animal is put down. Maybe the woman should be forced to wear a too-small harness for the next decade as punishment. I deeply apologize for my venting. It's not something I do regularly unless someone's stupidity results in the loss of an innocent life. (slides soapbox back under the bed...goes to make some nice, relaxing tea) I'll make it up to you with a happier post soon. How do YOU feel about this?

Dental Care for Coatis

Animals don't brush their teeth. (looks around the room) Okay. Good. No objections to that. As they reach the later stages in life that can sometimes become an issue. For those that are curious about dental care for the coati? Who would've thought that the Smithsonian National Zoological Park would offer, on their site, how to care for of all things, a coatis teeth? Well they do offer just that. Follow the dental exam of a 14-year-old coati named Jazz as she goes through the process. Very cool that this information is available online for those that work with or own (which I don't condone)a coatimundi. National Zoo veterinarians treat the severe dental problems of an old coati named Jazz.