There's a stretch of road near Tabacon Hot Springs Spa and Resort where the coati hang out, waiting for tourists to stop and feed them unhealthy treats.
The coati in Costa Rica are entrancing. Much like raccoons, they're relatively fearless about humans, and are easily habituated to casual contact with people. The females are found in groups. Males are solitary. Purportedly, "coati" means something like "mankind" in a native Costa Rican indian tongue, and "mundi" means lonely. Only a single male is called a coatimundi, otherwise they're called coati.
There's a stretch of road near Tabacon Hot Springs Spa and Resort where
the coati hang out, waiting for tourists to stop and feed them unhealthy
treats.
They tourists oblige, with everything from corn nuts to candy. Poor
coati...
Of course, when they look at you and beg, they're irresistible.
This coatimundi was roaming around the entrance to the Monte Verde Cloudforest
Reserve. It came over to me and sniffed my hand. Another tourist, who
apparently lost his mind for a brief moment, rushed up, exclaiming "Hey
there, big fella!" and tried to pick it up. Big mistake, as you can tell
from the claws you can see in the picture above this one.
How about a look at Lake Arenal?
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