Each year on December 3rd, we stop to recognise and create conservative awareness for all species of Coatimundi.
World Coati Day (WCD) happens in the middle of the Coati breeding season; creating awareness during their most critical time of the year. We encourage everyone to share the beauty and facts about our Coatis over social media with us using #worldcoatiday.
Coatis are a unique and underappreciated species and unfortunately their numbers are decreasing.
The coatimundis are an invaluable asset to their ecosystem, as they act as little landscapers throughout their habitat, dispersing seeds from the fruits and nuts they eat. They also control their habitats’ insect and pest populations while turning over and fertilising soils with their waste to promote new plant growth.
World Coati Day started with our founder’s voice, and now we have the support of several Zoos & Aquariums, Zookeepers, Universities, an array of organisations, bloggers and many individuals, with over 2.1k followers on social media and growing everyday.
Share your facts, photos & videos on social media with the #worldcoatiday & tag us in your posts
Fundraise for any of our major partners: Bioparque La Reserva, Rainforest Trust or Reservaylt who’s funds directly support conserving wild Coati populations & their habitat.
Fundraise for your local zoo/wildlife park to upgrade their Coati habitats, provide them with new enrichment or donations of food for their Coatis
Zoos can participate with keeper talks/ animal encounters/ naming (or other) competitions/ raffles & fundraising activities, OR even give the chance be a Coati keeper for a day!
From a little girl I had always had a passion for animals, which lead me to the path of being a qualified Zookeeper & Marine Animal Specialist in Australia. I have been in the field since 2015 and my interests and passion for animal welfare and conservation have continued to grow.
I completed 5 years of study through TAFE SA, and obtained my Certificate III in Animal Care and Husbandry, Animal Studies and Captive Animal Management. While undertaking my studies I was volunteering for 2 years as a Zookeeper’s assistant until obtaining my current role in the field.
Before becoming a zookeeper I had no idea about Coatis, but now I couldn’t imagine not working with them, let alone not knowing about them. It’s heart-breaking to see the public walk past them without acknowledgement or even knowing how to pronounce their name.
This motivated me to conduct some research; and to which I found their relatives were and still are Endangered. From that point, I knew something had to be done, so I created World Coati Day!
Colby is the superwoman behind our WCD band. She is responsible for all the cool content that you look forward to!
She was first introduced to Coatis working as an intern, learning how to be a zookeeper. Before that, she also had no idea what a Coati was! and if you can believe it, after dedication and hard work, she’s now living her dream and now has even worked alongside the Studbook Keeper for our White-Nosed Coatis in Florida!
She has a bachelors of science in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University and has been in the animal care field for about 6 years. Colby has had the pleasure of working in both zoos and aquariums, but says nothing beats working with Coatis and hoof stock!
Her husband says that she is basically a Coati because of how annoyingly inquisitive she can be. Outside of her dedication to our Coatis, she loves to surf, drink coffee and walk her dogs.