The world’s oldest zoo has shown its charming white-nosed coati kittens to visitors for the first time since their spring birth.
Footage from Schoenbrunn Zoo, in Vienna, Austria, showed the little ones curiously exploring their outdoor enclosure and boasting their climbing skills on 25th July.
They can also be seen sniffing and rummaging through the leaf litter whilst digging holes in search of fallen fruits and small insects.
Zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck explained that after being born blind and deaf at the end of March, the kittens were nurtured by their mother in a nest within the indoor enclosure.
Hering-Hagenbeck said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “The young coatis are now exploring their newly designed habitat.
“Visitors can watch them climbing trees, foraging for food such as insects, meat, and fruit in the underbrush, or resting together in a cozy group.”
The director explained how if a cub becomes too adventurous and strays too far from the group, the mother either makes a squeaking sound to call it back or picks it up gently in her mouth and returns it to the nest.
He added: “Coatis are native to the tropical forests of South America.
“With the addition of extra tree trunks and plants, visitors can now observe how adept coatis are at climbing.
“Their long tails help them balance as they navigate their environment.”
In 2023, the zoo relocated coatis to a newly designed 1,400-square-meter bear enclosure that features a variety of climbing structures.
The zoo said: “The cohabitation between spectacled bears and coatis, whose natural habitats overlap in the wild, has now settled into a harmonious arrangement.
“However, the young coatis still keep their distance from the relatively large spectacled bears—curiosity does have its limits.”
White-nosed coatis (Nasua narica) are listed as “Least Concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
They are however considered an endangered species in New Mexico.
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Story By: Georgina Jedikovska, Sub-Editor: Georgina Jedikovska, Agency: Newsflash
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