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#
of Coati's seen
1
Number
of photos taken by gawking tourists
hundreds
Favorite
food
Insects, fruit,
and small animals,
not crackers!
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Lesson
Plans
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Coati
Contact!
| Over the weekend we went to
visit the Irazu Volcano and found more than just the volcano
to look at. As we were waiting for the bus to take us
back to San Jose, a curious critter about the size of
a raccoon strolled up. It had a long furry tail that looked
like a howler monkey's tail and a strange looking snout
that made it look like a miniature tapir. This bold little
critter was a coati
or white-faced coatimundi,and it had obviously been here
before and knew exactly what it was doing. |
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Click photo to enlarge
Feeding wild animals makes them dependent on people
for food. In many cases the animal's natural instincts
go away, and the animals become aggressive toward humans.
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Soon a crowd gathered around the coati
and people taking photos and pointing at the strange looking
critter. It wasn't long before crackers and other snacks
began to appear out of people's bags and the coati's
feast began. After a few more minutes people started posing
for photos next to the coati, as it crammed food into
its mouth as fast as it could. Then the bus arrived and
everyone climbed aboard and coati's media event/buffet
ended as fast as it had started. |
| This was certainly not the type on animal
encounter that Eric and I like to have. Feeding wild animals
is never a good idea. People think that feeding animals
like this Coati
is a cute and nice, but in the end the only one that suffers
in the animal that is being fed. So remember no matter
how cute and lovable they look, have a heart and don't
feed wild animals. You will be doing them a favor in the
end! |
Keep Exploring,
Dave
Critters
of Costa Rica Index
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