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coati

American  
[koh-ah-tee] / koʊˈɑ ti /

noun

coatis plural
  1. a diurnal omnivore related to the raccoon, having an elongated body, a long, ringed, nonprehensile tail, and a slender, flexible snout: the two genera are Nasua, found in the southwestern U.S. and southward to Uruguay, and Nasuella, the mountain coatis of Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador.


coati British  
/ kəʊˈɑːtɪ, kəʊˌɑːtɪˈmʌndɪ /

noun

  1. any omnivorous mammal of the genera Nasua and Nasuella, of Central and South America: family Procyonidae, order Carnivora (carnivores). They are related to but larger than the raccoons, having a long flexible snout and a brindled coat

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of coati

First recorded in 1670–80; from Portuguese, from Tupi, equivalent to cua “belt” + ti, tim “nose”

Vocabulary lists containing coati

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The state estimates property damage from such wrecks at nearly $20 million annually, while unbroken roads also fracture habitats for monitored species of concern including the ornate box turtle, white-nosed coati and gila monster.

From Seattle Times Mar. 23, 2023

Other newcomers include three South American coati — a mother and her two children — resembling raccoons with their long striped tails.

From New York Times May 26, 2015

The animals were found in small cages in the garage on Wednesday after an animal control officer found a coati wandering in a neighborhood in Warren, Michigan, the zoo said.

From Reuters Jul. 11, 2014

Hunter Siemel & friends will have a ready market in Chicago for all the jaguars, tapirs, giant armadillos, anteaters, puma, ocelots, coati, large red wolves that they can catch.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the red coati, ranging from Surinam to Paraguay, the tail is marked with from seven to nine broad fulvous or rufous rings, alternating with black ones, and tipped with black.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

According to the fruit-diet hypothesis, the big-brained capuchins and spider monkeys should exhibit greater route efficiency than the coatis and kinkajous.

From Science Daily May 28, 2024

Wildlife cameras in the region regularly photograph black bears, bobcats, ringtails, spotted skunks, white-nosed coatis and pig-like javelina.

From Seattle Times Dec. 11, 2022

This week, zookeepers tried out a bubble machine with their coatis - South American members of the raccoon family.

From Washington Times Aug. 5, 2017

The animals confiscated included two white-nosed coatis, two ring-tailed lemurs and three fennec foxes, along with rabbits and birds, the zoo said.

From Reuters Jul. 11, 2014

Except maybe for the fact that those coatis might not be hamster-friendly.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

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