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First, a note of sincere, heartfelt thanks to everyone who so generously contributed to my appeal for a new pair of binoculars! The appeal was a great success – I am elated to say that the new binoculars are in my hands, and they are absolutely stunning. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for the gift of such an exceptionally important tool that will enable me to continue doing what I do as a naturalist. I’m beaming as I write this. 🙂
White-nosed coatis are one of the most charismatic and fascinating native mammals of SE Arizona. Bands of them are fairly common in the Middle San Pedro Valley where my family and I reside, but I have rarely documented their presence on our property. Only days ago, my wife saw a lone individual close by our home. Two days later, a band of coatis crossed our little acreage unseen, but they left abundant and unmistakable signs of their presence.
Just south of the Arizona/Mexico border, coatis are known as chulos (there are several other Mexican names for them); in the US, most people refer to them as coatis or coatimundis. Taxonomically, they are known as Nasua narica. Among a number of their unique features, coatis are one of the world’s very few social omnivores. (Can you think of any others? Offhand, all I can come up with are humans and meerkats.)
Some two decades ago, when I first began to roam the wildlands of this valley, I was not sure how to separate the tracks of coatis from those made by one of their cousins, the raccoon. I had heard that they were difficult to distinguish, but that soon proved to be incorrect. This exemplified one of many things that a naturalist must learn by direct experience out in the field, for the great majority of tracking books fall far short of being accurate, reliable sources of information.
So, how does one recognize the differences between the tracks of these two animals – tracks that, ostensibly, can look a lot alike?
Fresh coati tracks in fine dust under my ramada reveal toes positioned tightly together with consistent thickness along the length of each toe.These raccoon tracks, particularly those made by the front feet, (at left), show diagnostic shaping and separation of the toes. The toes are proximally narrow in comparison to their distal ends, where they widen into bulbous tips with relatively short claws. Once this distinctive toe shape is recognized, misidentifications between well-defined raccoon and coati tracks can be eliminated.When a band of coatis forages, they commonly pause in certain areas where they make numerous shallow digs for food such as beetle grubs. The band that visited here just days ago left this characteristic array of holes behind. (Note the 6-inch ruler included in the photograph for scale.) Skunks are common locally, and they also dig for a living, but not in this fashion.On a hot summer day years ago, I photographed this chulo sign along the banks of the San Pedro River. The coatis had been digging into the sandy riverbank, leaving some spectacularly long claw marks in addition to the excavated holes.
Another pair of native mammals that can leave similar signs of their presence are mule and whitetail deer. One of several ways to distinguish their signs comes into play when these animals are moving at high speeds. Whitetail deer gallop when they run fast, but mule deer tend to stott when they are in a hurry. Stotting refers to an upward leaping motion where all four feet leave the ground at the same time and land at roughly the same time – a type of movement that most people would describe as a hop. And what a hop it can be!
A mule deer buck moving at high speed left a set of tracks near our home last week, beautifully defined in rain-moistened soil. This deer had easily leapt over two fencelines in less than several dozen yards and had clearly been moving very quickly. I laid a measuring tape on the ground along the deer’s trackway – it revealed a single stott that measured 19 feet, three inches in length. No problem for an adult mule deer.
Here are the four feet of the buck at one of the points where he landed. The deer did not stop here – these tracks were part of a series of energetic stotts. Note that the front feet are positioned ahead of the hind feet, (relative to the direction of travel). If the deer had been a galloping whitetail, this order would be reversed, (rear tracks to the front and front tracks to the rear). Note the spread clouts of the hooves. Deer (and many other mammals, including barefoot humans) autonomically spread their hooves like this in order to prevent slippage as they gallop or stott.
