The Coati Ploy

Tweet

Biking near Lake Arenal, just my daughter and I, we encountered numerous gently rolling hills. On the uphill my daughter would easily pass me as she maintained a steady pace while even in a low gear I worked to maintain forward momentum. However, on the downhill my weight gave me a clear advantage, so I could easily overtake her light frame. Consequently, we serenely leapfrogged one another as we pedaled past jungle and lake vistas.

Along one relatively flat stretch we were nearly side by side when my daughter spotted a lone coati standing demurely by the side of the road.

“Mom, can we stop to take a photo?”

“Of course!”

So we dismounted off of our bikes, immediately forgetting the important safety tip when encountering wild animals (or even dogs for that matter)—always keep the bike between you and the animal. After all it looked so furry and cute and placid, what trouble could it cause? Boy did it have us pegged! No sooner had we set our bikes down than a dozen more of its family, neighbors and friends melted out of the dense undergrowth. They flowed toward us like an avalanche in the Rocky Mountains as we back pedaled on foot. I attempted to right my bike while urging my daughter to back up behind me. The coatis continued advancing en masse, my bike impeded my get-away and so I quickly discarded it in the favor of a faster retreat. Of course the coatis could run forward much more quickly than we could fumble our way backwards over the uneven ground.

Two events converged at this point—the coatis surrounded us just as a van approached from behind. Whether the driver pulled over to allow his tourists a view of the “cute” animals or to be entertained by the near hysteria of the surrounded mother (human not coati), I don’t know; but in any case he took pity upon our apparently misplaced frenzy and pulled over. When he got out of his van he told us in English there was nothing to worry about, “they’re just like raccoons.” Well I don’t know about raccoons in your neighborhood, but personally I don’t want to be swarmed by a pack of raccoons either. My daughter, on the other hand, maintained her calm and started taking photos.

The driver quickly picked up a seed pod and easily coaxed the coati away from us as they only were looking for food. Apparently these coati were quite familiar with the bait (cute coati) and switch (swarm of coatis) routine to encourage humans to feed them.

While the driver calmly held the coati at bay with his passengers laughing at my alarm, my daughter and I collected our bikes, stowed our cameras and thankfully pedaled on.
I am certain that the coati “plant” their smallest and cutest member by the roadside as a lure to tempt gullible tourists to stop. Needless to say we passed up a stop the next time a coati stood cutely by the roadside.