Uncommon Pets 307 
the prelude to an attempt at escape on the animal’s part, or else the coati resents the 
intrusion of any implement used in the cleaning operation either by attempting to get 
it away from the person using it, or by inflicting scratches on the hands of whoever 
is doimg the work. Whatever happens, the person must not lose his or her 
temper and strike the coati, as it will resent the mjury In a moment and not forget 
the indignity it has suffered, but, on the contrary, will carefully treasure the occurrence 
in its°mind as long as that person has to do with it. After a week or so the coati 
will get used to having its cage cleaned out and will give no further trouble. 
Reference has been made to the artfulness of these animals, and in connection with 
this trait of their character, Belt—the traveller who explored Nicaragua—relates that they 
are in the habit of hunting the iguanas in the trees, and that when these reptiles 
saw the coati approach they would simply drop down from the bough on which they 
were resting to the ground, and then run up another tree, very often thus escaping 
their enemies. But the coatis usually go about in small troops or bands of about 
twenty, and thei artfulness was displayed in the following manner;—they would 
divide themselves imto two sections, one of which hunted the iguanas in the 
branches above while the other would follow their movements below, so that if any 
iguana or other prey thought to escape its danger by dropping to the ground, it 
sumply found it had “jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire.” It is rather curious 
that, although gregarious when wild, the coati is anything but a sociable animal in 
captivity, and it is only occasionally that two individuals even of opposite sexes can 
be kept in one cage, as their chief delight seems in fighting one another at every 
opportunity, inflicting nasty wounds with their sharp claws and fillmg the air with 
their shrill cries. 
Them olfactory nerves are evidently very sensitive, and it is on record that a 
tame coati could always detect the one who touched him out of several persons, even 
when the head had been covered so that the animal could not tell by seeing. Most 
coatis relish perfumes, and if a few drops of scent are sprayed on a small piece of 
linen rag or old handkerchief and this be thrown into their cage, their delight is keen 
in the extreme. This being the case it can be readily imagined that their nose is 
most sensitive to injury, and they always take the greatest care of it; if frightened 
they nearly always scamper to the back of the cage and grasp their nose with their 
two front paws to protect it from accidental mjury. When, too, the nose has been 
used in grubbing up garden soil in search of worms, the coati cleans it first with its 
fore-feet and then gives it a final polishing-up on the fur of the tail, rubbing it up 
and down as if it were beimg done on a knife-board. 
If the meat is given to the coati in large pieces the animal tears it in pieces 
with its sharp claws, and often carries it to its mouth from the dish by sticking in 
one of its long claws. 
If only pet-keepers were to give these animals a little encouragement and take 
precautions not to upset them during the first few days, they would be more often 
kept than they are at the present moment. 
