THE COATI, or Brasilian Weasel*.

            THIS animal has been called Coati-mondi by several authors.  We have had it alive; and, after comparing it with the Coati mentioned by Thevet, and described by Marcgrave, we discovered the Coati and Coati-mondi to be only varieties of the same species; for Marcgrave, after describing the coati, says expressly, that there are other coati of a dark brown colour, called, for the sake of distinction, coati-mondi by the Brasilians.  He admits not, therefore, any other difference between the coati and coati-mondi, but that of the colour of the hair; and hence they can only be regarded as varieties of the same species.  [53]

            The coati is very different from the raccoon described in the preceding article.  He is of a smaller stature; his body and neck, head, and muzzle, are much longer; the upper jaw is terminated by a kind of moveable snout, which stretches an inch, or an inch and a half, beyond the extremity of the under jaw.  This turned up snout, joined to the length of the jaws, gives to the muzzle a curved and elevated appearance.  The coati has also smaller eyes than the raccoon, shorter ears, longer, coarser, and less variegated hair, shorter legs, and longer feet; and it rests still more upon the heel.  Like the raccoon, it has an annulated tail,* and five toes on each foot. 

 

            Some authors regard the sow-badger as a coati, and have added to this genus the taxus suillus,+ of which Aldrovandus has given a figure.  But, when it is considered, that the sow-badger mentioned by hunters, is supposed to be found in France, and even in colder European climates, and that, on the contrary, the coati never appears but in southern climates of the New Continent, this notion must be rejected, as having no foundation to support it;3 for the figure given by Aldrovandus is nothing more than that of a [54] badger, with the addition of a sow’s snout.  The author pretends not to have drawn this animal from nature; and he has given no description of it.  The long muzzle and moveable snout sufficiently distinguish the coati from all other animals.  Like the bear, the coati stands with ease on his hind feet, resting upon his broad heels, that are terminated by large callosities, which extend outward, and augment the base of the feet.

 

            The coati has a trick of gnawing his own tail, which, when not mutilated, exceeds the length of the body; he generally carries his tail erect, and sweeps it about from side to side. This remarkable practice of gnawing the tail is not, however, peculiar to the coati; the monkeys, the makis, and some other animals which have long tails, shorten them one third, or one fourth, by eating both the flesh and the vertebrae.  This gave rise to a general conclusion, that, in very long members, the extremities of which are, of course, removed to a great distance from the centre of feeling, the sensation is proportioned to the distance and the thinness of the part; for, if the extremity of the tail, in those animals, was very sensible, the pain excited would be stronger than the desire of mutilation, and they would preserve their tails with equal anxiety as the other parts of their bodies.  Upon the whole, [55] the coati is an animal of prey, who lives upon flesh and blood, and who, like the fox or martin, devours small animals and fowls,* eats eggs, and hunts for the nests of birds;+ and it is, probably, from this conformity of disposition, rather than from any resemblance to the martin, that the coati has been considered as a small species of the fox.3 [56]

 

Notes

 

*  Weasel with the upper jaw lengthened into a pliant moveable proboscis, much longer than the lower jaw; ears rounded; eyes small; nose dusky; hair on the body smooth, soft, and glossy, of a bright bay colour; tail annulated with dusky and bay; breast whitish; length from nose to tail eighteen inches; tail thirteen inches; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 229.

 

Coati; Thevet. Singular. de la France Antarctique, p. 95.  Marcgrave. Hist. nat. Brasil. p. 228.    

 

Coati-molndi; Hist. de l’Acad. tom. 3. part. 2. p. 17.

 

Vulpes minor, rostro superikori longiusculo, cauda annulatim ex nigro et ruso variegate; Barrere, hist. de la France Equinoct. p. 167.

 

Ursus naso producto et mobile, cauda annulatim variegate; Brisson. Regn. anim. p. 190.

Viverra nasua, rufa, cauda albo annulata; Linn. Syst. p. 64 [back to page 53].

 

*  Some coatis have the tail of one uniform colour; but, as there are no other differences, they must be considered only as varieties, and not as distinct species.

 

+  Brisson. Regn. anim. p. 263.

 

3.  See what we remarked concerning the Taxus suillus, article Badger [back to page 54].

 

*  Marcgrave, hist. Brasil. p. 228.

 

+  Thevet, Singular. de la France Antarct. p. 96 [back to page 56]

 

3.  In the Seventh volume of the Transactions of the Swedish Academy, we have the following remarks concerning the coati-mondi by Linnaeus, which we shall transcribe, without pretending to vouch the facts he delivers.

 

            “This animal,” says Linneaus, is equally numerous both in South and in North America.  In the length of his hind-legs, the inclination of his head, the bushiness of his hair, and in his paws, he resembles the bear.  But he is small and familiar; and his tail is very long, and variegated with different colours.  The Prince of Sweden made a present of one of these animals to Linnaeus, who kept him a considerable time, but lost all the labour he bestowed in attempted to civilize him; for the coati-mondi, when he could slip into the court-yard, violating all the rights of hospitality, tore off the heads of the poultry, and drank their blood.  He was so obstinate, that he would do nothing contrary to his inclination. Notwithstanding the smallness of this animal, he defended himself with great force, when any body attempted to seize him against his will; and he stuck fast to the legs of those with whom he was familiar, when he wanted to ransack their pockets, and carry off what he found in them.  But there is a remedy for the obstinacy.  The coati has an extreme aversion to hog’s bristles; and the smallest brush makes him desert his enterprise.  He was one day worried by a mastiff; and M. Linnaeus dissected him.  His mode of living was very singu- [56] lar.  He slept from midnight till noon, waked the rest of the day, and uniformly walked about from six in the evening till midnight, without the least regard to the weather.  This is probably the time assigned by nature to this species of animals, when in their own country, for procuring their food, for hunting birds, and discovering their eggs, which constitute their principal nourishment;” Biblioth raisonnee, tom. 41. part. 1. p. 25.  [this note straddles pages 56 and 57, with the break occurring where indicated above.  Back to page 56].