Exhibit for Coatimundi

At the zoo i work at we just got 2 baby mountain coatimundis. They are absolutely adorable and love riding on our shoulders to visit with the public. We have temporary housing for them while they are little, but are going to be building a permanent exhibit for them soon. I was wondering if anyone had seen any neat coati exhibits at other zoos, or have any unique ideas that would be neat to integrate into an exhibit for them?

Its always nice to get outside suggestions

 

I'm not sure what a mountain coati is, but Arizona Sonora Desert Museum has a fantastic exhibit for regular coatis. It is actually a recreation of Sycamore Canyon near the Arizona Mexico border, which is a natural habitat for coatis. It has a low wall with a moat in front, although it does not look like a typical zoo moat, but just like a mountain pond. Rockwork and log and trees are all extremely realistic. Unfortunately, I do not have a wide angle photo of the entire exhibit, but if you go to ASDM gallery you should find some pictures.

(BTW - this is being really picky - but I believe the term coatimundi refers to a lone male. The species name is coati and any group of more than one cannot have the mundi suffix. I realize this is picky, but I have never understood why many people prefer to use the longer name when the shorter one is not only more accurate but so much easier to say).

 

They might not have the financial means to recreate a canyon in their zoo? I haven't seen that many GREAT coati exhibits, but at least make sure there's plenty of climbing structures. Many zoo's have the very thick rope running either between trees or climbing structures. I've also seen small (rope) ladders and loads of dead trees in the usual coati-enclosure.

You could also see if you can get a scatterfeeder, or something (or someone) that throws some snacks around the enclosure every now and then. It gives them something to nose around for, and makes for a much more attractive exhibit...

The easiest exhibit to create that i enjoyed very much is the one that the Zodiac parks (Wissel and Overloon) in the Netherlands use for many species. It's basically a pit, with a small hill in the center, which is bordered with slick steel plates. Visitors can look over the (dug in) steel plates into the exhibit with a clear view. In this system, some species require hotwire along the edge, of which the coati is usually one...

 

Hi! This is very exciting as I wasn't aware of any mountain coati in captivity outside of south America? Where did you get them and are they as nocturnal in behaviour compared to White-nosed and the ring-tailed species?

 

Yes If these are actually mountain coatis (nasuella olivacea) pleeeeeease post some pictures of them!

 

I was looking these animals up a few days ago and there were none on ISIS. Now there are 1.3 at Broussard and 0.2 at Moorpark, both are places in USA which I am not familiar with. Ashley I presume you are at the latter. Please post pictures as mountain coatis are a species which most most of us here will not have had the chance to see before.

 

Those two places appear to be in California while Ashley is in Virginia (opposite side of the continent). Curious

 

I was wondering whether that was only true in Costa Rica where I was told it so thanks Mr(s) Picky!

 

Jwer the pit idea is a great one I've heard mentioned, but with concrete walls, the steel plates seems like a much cheaper alternative. Yes, we are in VA and just got these two last week. I will post pics as soon as I figure out how....

 

I put one up titled "baby mountain coati" in the Gallery, under Peru. I know they are found in more countries than Peru, but its the only way i figured out to post a picture!

 

Moorpark refers to Moorpark College, west of Los Angeles, California. It is a two year community college with its own on-site teaching zoo (closed to the public). There is an excellent book about their program called Kicked, Bitten and Scratched.

 

As per JWERs instructions, here is a less expensive exhibit with steel plates in front as he mentioned. At Out Of Africa, also in my state of Arizona, which has basically home-made exhibits. Made on a low budget I am sure, but with logs and rocks it still looks very natural.

 

I believe one of the exhibits at Zodiac even uses wooden plates, either painted solid wood or durable plywood of some type, it has a slick brown coating/paint on it... I would imagine it to be even cheaper then steel plates, but also less durable.

That exhibit looks very nice indeed Arizona Docent, and i bet it didn't cost the world to make...

Another Coati border that springs to mind is the one at Duisburg, of which you can find a picture here:
http://www.zoochat.com/128/duisburg-zoo-coati-exhibit-120523/

You can see it's actually raised from the ground about 30/40 cm's, and the border is made of glas panels that are upright from the ground up. You can sit on the ledge in front of the panels, and watch them scurry around very closely which makes for a very interesting exhibit. It's a lot more costly, and higher maintenance (cleaning the glass) but i find it the best interaction wise...

 

Thanks for posting the picture ashleyzoo! It does look different from a White nosed coati to an extent but unlike the few mountain coati photos I've seen before! What does anyone else here think? Did you see the parents? I am just very curious as it would be great to really have a captive breeding group of this species! I got yesterday an e-mail from a yahoo group from a lady in America offering both baby White-nosed and mountain coatis for sale! Veri interesting!

 

Having seen the picture, it may be a coati and it may be from the mountains, but I strongly suspect this is not Nasuella nelsoni

 

oops Nasuella olivacea

 

Thanks pinkback for your thoughts! I agree with you but my experience with young White-nosed coatis is non existent lol! We recently imported a pure sub-species and there is considerable differences in coat colour amongst them which is interesting. Thanks also for info on private breeders in USA I doubt any of these are mountain coatis which is a pity!

 

@ pinkback. N. nelsoni is the island coati that is from Mexico's Cozumel Island--and no one claimed that it was one. It is Nasuella olivacea.

 

pinkback corrected himself, but why are you sure they are nasuella olivacea, i must admit that the pictures do not convince me.