Meet Fiddlesitx and his friends the Coati Gang - Kids' Film Features Coati as Main Character

I'm not sure how I missed this but...

An oddball kids movie that's like a mix between The Little Rascals and the old-school Pippi Longstocking features a coati as one of the lead characters!

Fiddlestix isn't just the name of the film...it's the name of the adorable little coatimundi featured in the movie. Fiddlestix is sort of the mascot of a group of misfit little kids who call themselves the Coati Gang.

How a coatimundi becomes the mascot amongst a group of German kids is something I started to ask myself but then I saw a trashcan launched through the air, an old man on a bunch of rockets lifting off and a car cut in half...that's when I quit asking questions.

But hey...it's a movie featuring a coati...and that's why we're all here, right?

Enjoy the trailer for Fiddlestix.

New Study Shows Female Coatis Teach Juveniles How to Steal!

A new study and research is showing that female coati will teach juveniles how to steal from unrelated coatis!

Ben Hirsch of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute:

"No previously published model of animal behavior would have predicted that young juvenile coatis should regularly attack and steal food from older relatives. Additionally, the pattern that adult females come to the aid of these non-related juveniles really flies in the face of what we thought. What we have described is a quasi-cooperative behavior that is evidently not kin based."

To read more of the interesting behavior follow the link below:

[LiveScience]

Who Wants a Cup of Coffee from South America? - Okay...who wants to clean coati poop off it?

"This is the most expensive crap in the world!"

Those are the words of Jose Jorge Durand the owner of Chanchamayo Highland Coffee.

For those that aren't aware there was a small ripple of a trend where animals (mostly civets...a small cat) would eat arabica bean cherries and later excrete the fermented coffee beans stripped of most of the usual bitterness of the bean.

It's one of the most expensive coffees in the world typically going for anywhere between $20-$65 a cup!

Know what's more eye-opening than a solid cup of coffee in the morning?

Yep.

One that came out the back end of a coati.

[REUTERS]

Animal Services in Memphis Discovers Coati in Home - Issues Owner a Warrant - Because Let's Do THAT first

A coati named Archie caused some buzz in Memphis recently when he was spotted in the window of his owner's home after a call went in to local Animal Services about his dogs. Animal Services (who in the video are seen taking photos of Archie through the window...and an officer laughingly flinches when Archie lunges at his hand through the window) states they've never seen whatever Archie is so they issue a warrant to the owner of the coati.

According to a friend of the owner of the coati, Animal Services said:

“They said, ‘if you can’t find him, we’ve already contacted the Memphis Zoo and if he can’t get here before the warrant gets here then they’ll kick in the door and take it’

That's always better than just waiting for the owner to respond...right?

The story continues to spiral into awkwardness when the owner shows up telling reporters that he bought the animal off of Craigslist for $375 because his girlfriend wanted something more interesting than a cat (because she's obviously more concerned with getting attention than just loving a cat from the shelter and wanted to help promote the sale of exotics through Craigslist...she sounds like a keeper) and that his name is Archelo Fettucini.

I can't fault the guy...he had vaccination paperwork (no permit is needed to keep a coati in Memphis...ugh) and calmly explained the situation.

Just another weird situation that circles around an animal that seems to find its way into everything...

Including the awkward home that Archie resides in down in Memphis...

Who's hedging bets that the relationship will eventually hit the skids and another exotic will probably end up in a bad situation?

Jungle Shuffle - An Animated Movie with Coatis

It was brought to my attention in the comments of an older post that an animated feature film starring coatis is a thing now. Jungle Shuffle isn't the greatest, but I always root for little animation studios that try their hand at a big project like a full length film. Available on Netflix, Jungle Shuffle is about a rambunctious young coati named Manu who keeps messing things up. When his girlfriend Sacha is captured by a human, its up to him to rescue her and the typical sidekicks and antics of a bunch of cartoon animals vs bad humans ensues. At first I thought, "That's awesome! A cartoon with coatis!" Then I was kinda glad that the film wasn't really that great. If the film was any good and became popular coati might've become the fashionable pet-of-the-week for a little while.

Photo of Researcher Being Attacked by Coati in 1927!

What you're looking at was something I discovered over on the Smithsonian's site.

It's a researcher in Panama in 1927 named Molino. I don't have any other information about the man in the photo.

The caption simply reads:

"Coati (Nasua nasua) attacking Molino due to noise of shaking keys"

Having worked closely with coatis, I learned that this sound drives them crazy! It can be clattering silverware on the floor or the jangling of a set of keys like in the photo above. Because there's nobody out wandering around dropping their silverware or jangling their set of keys in the wild, many who study the coati wonder why the sound triggers such an aggressive response from most that hear it or similar metallic noises. I've seen coati rolled cat toys around like they might a tarantula if they were in the wild...without ever learning the behavior or ever having had an interaction with a tarantula.

I would love to hear peoples' thoughts as to what it is about jangling keys or metallic sounds that causes the coati to go a little mad. It's a fascinating response and behavior that I've always been curious to learn about.

Would love to hear some theories.

1879 Department of the Interior Study on the Coati

During my routine search on Amazon for coati-related items, I came across an interesting study published by the Department of the Interior...in 1879!

You can read more about the author and zoologist Joseph Asaph Allen on a Wikipedia about him. Purchase the book on Amazon or get it on Google Play Books for free!