Cozumel Island Coati

Cozumel Island coati
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Procyonidae
Genus:	Nasua
Species:	N. nelsoni
Binomial name
Nasua nelsoni Merriam, 1901
Cozumel Island Coati range

The Cozumel Island Coati (Nasua nelsoni) is a coati from the Mexican island of Cozumel. It is in the family Procyonidae, which also includes raccoons, olingos, and Kinkajous.

Although very similar to the White-nosed Coati, it has shorter, softer fur and is much smaller. It feeds on fruit and preys upon insects, and small vertebrates. Despite likely having been introduced to Cozumel by the Mayans, most authorities recognize it as a valid species,^[1] although some scientists continue to consider it a subspecies of White-nosed Coati.^[2]

References

1. ^ Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press University Press.
2. ^ Wozencraft, W. Christopher (16 November 2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 625-626. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=14001628.