Notes on the coati, Nasua nasua (Carnivora: Procyonidae) in an Atlantic forest area.

Although Nasua nasua is broadly distributed geographically and relatively common, it is still little studied. This paper reports observations of coatis in an Atlantic Forest area, the Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho (PECB) in São Paulo State, Brazil. The social structure of coatis at PECB seems to be the same related in the literature. The mating season appears to be August-September and the pups are born in October-November. Coatis are mainly arboreal at the PECB, contrasting with habits reported in the data from other areas. This preference for the arboreal stratum no doubt is related to their foraging in epiphytic bromeliads, which occurred in 90.6% of the instances in which they were observed feeding. Bromeliads are a rich food source much more common in the Atlantic Forest than in other areas where coatis have been observed. This result suggests that this species is able to adjust its foraging and strata preferences to different environments without changing its basic social structure.