South American coati |South American Coati| |South American
coati range. Note: Also found in west Ecuador, and west and
north Colombia, see text| The South American coati, or ring-
tailed coati (Nasua nasua), is a species of coati from tropical
and subtropical South America. In Brazilian Portuguese it is
known as quati. Weight in this species is 2–7.2 kg (4.4–16 lb)
and total length is 85–113 cm (33–44 in), half of that being its
tail. Its color is highly variable and the rings on the tail may
be quite weak, but it lacks the largely white muzzle ("nose") of
its northern cousin, the white-nosed coati. The South American
coati is widespread in tropical and substropical South America.
Most of its distribution is in the lowlands east of the Andes
(locally, it occurs as high as 2,500 m or 8,200 ft), from
Colombia and The Guianas south to Uruguay and northern Argentina
(Chile is the only South American country where the species is
not found). The status of coatis west of the Andes has caused
some confusion, but spec