Coati are omnivores like us, which means they eat a mix of meat and plants (someone who only eats plants is an herbivore and someone that only eats meat is a carnivore). They are constantly using their noses and paws to search for food above and under the ground and up in the trees. Coatis are scavengers and will eat many different types of foods depending on what they can find. A typical meal for a coati might be an appetizer salad of plant litter from the forest floor, a mix of different insects and small lizards for the main course, and a sweet fruit for dessert. They are most active during the day, and they usually sleep high up in the trees at night, using their claws to climb and make nests.
The coati has many natural predators such as snakes, foxes and a very cool wild cat called a jaguarundi, but recently humans (humanos) and changes in the environment have been hurting the population. Many humans have been illegally hunting the coati for its fur and for food, which has caused the number of coati in the wild to lower significantly. As more and more people also begin to remove parts of the jungle to build homes and develop cities, the habitat of the coati (the space that it uses to live, feed and raise its family) is much smaller than it used to be. This hurts its population, too.
There are still many coati living in the wild, and the population is not as low, or as endangered, as some other species in México, but it is still important to keep an eye on these animals and try to find ways to help the population grow.
