I'm cracking up over the relative lack of mythology surrounding coatis... how many cultures across different lands and eras decided "eh, those are just some guys"
Coaties have strong trickster god vibes. I read that the females travel in packs, so those were probably the ones on the platform, while the males travel solo (could be the one I met on the trail?)
Yes, probably was a male! Fun fact, coatis are sometimes called coatimundis, which means "coati by itself" in Guarani. Term probably applied just to adult males initially, since they are solitary outside of breeding season.
In the Popol Vuh the Mayans have a grandmother deity called Great White Coati who helps the Hero Twins defeat a Macaw god. Also worth noting that the lack of mythology is probably more of a reflection of how effective the Spanish were at eradicating indigenous cultural history, unfortunately.
At one point there was a hand-written sign on the Coati enclosure at Melbourne Zoo warning that they were both inquisitive and acquisitive, and if you let your things dangle over the edge they will try and steal them.
A friend on vacation in MX texted me a photo of coatis at her resort, asking what they were. Internet was spotty, and she knew I’d know, which I did. They are lovely lil’ guys, aren’t they?
Special backstage tour of the Akron Zoo around 2018, I got too close to the coati cage, dude snatched the glasses right off my face. I got them back, but it was pretty obvious that dude was laughing at me.
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when i was 4 a cuati came right up to me and took my icecream out of my hands
*No one knows this saying except my brother, who also hates it
Adorbs.
Also Me: THERE IS A MAN T-POSING....