Close-up to the Guatemalan wildlife: Coati and the Maya Biosphere Reserve

While all the tourists were admiring and photographing the Maya temples of Tikal, I was entertained by stalking this hungry and tired Coati. I spotted him as he was sniffing and foraging on the soil repeatedly rooting for insects (as they do) and I followed him with my lens from a distance as he ran behind the crowds of people, climbed up a tree, licked his balls, turned and turned for a while until he found some comfort on a branch and then snoozed off.

The white-nosed Coati (Nasua narica) is a relative of raccoons. You might know them by that famous video played backward where they look like tiny brontosaurs. Just as in that video, they normally move in groups. Coatis are very easy to observe in Tikal National Park (Guatemala), where they’re pretty used to humans.

Downside: some people feed them (despite it being forbidden, but you know how tourists can be). Please don’t do that – do not feed wildlife ever, nowhere, zero, nada. It’s not “cute” and they don’t “need” it.

Maya Biosphere Reserve

Coatis live in dry and humid forests from Southern US down to Northern South America. This particular sleepy friend of mine lives in the rainforest of Tikal (northern Guatemala). This is part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

This is the second-largest rainforest in the continent (after the Amazon), and is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. This week this region is turning 30 years since it got that Protected Category!

There are several threats to this PA (some very difficult to tackle, such as corruption & drug-trafficking). However, most of the region is still very well protected by the local communities and the Forest Concessions (which began in 1996). Besides direct local benefits, we all benefit from the environmental and social benefits this forest and its good conservation status provide. Of course, it is also necessary for the amazing biodiversity they host – like our Coati friend here.

Fun Fact: do the temples of Tikal look familiar to you? In 1977, Star Wars was filmed here😉

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Recommended:

1. Radachowsky, J. et al. 2012. Forest Concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala: A Decade Later. Forest Ecology and Management.