Question of the Week: What's that long-tailed raccoon-like animal that hangs around Luna Llena Hotel?

It's a Pizote, or white-nosed coati, which actually is a part of the raccoon family. There is a mama Pizote and a baby male Pizote who live somewhere around the hotel's jungle premises and often make appearances to sniff around for food. This photo is of Luna Llena's resident mama Pizote. Luna Llena hotel guests enjoy taking photos and learning about local jungle wildlife.

The Pizote is found as far north as Arizona and as far south as Ecuador and lives in wooded forest areas. They have extremely long tails and the males tend to be much larger than the females. They are omnivores and love to forage for food in human trash. They can climb trees easily, using that long tail for balance. They are quite cute and have even been domesticated, but the males will fight if they feel attacked and have long nails for scratching. They like to sleep curled up in a tree.

In Costa Rica the animal is known exclusively as a Pizote, but in other parts of Latin America it is known as Coatimundi, Tejon or Antoon.