Ed Zerylnik is used to seeing squirrels run along the fence in the backyard of his Flagstaff home. But one morning in late November, he saw something strange traverse the pickets, something he did not immediately recognize.
鈥淚t was about 10 times bigger than a squirrel,鈥� he said.
The animal went along the fence line, up into a tree (where it earned the cawing of an unkindness from ravens), then later came down and started gathering apples from a tree in a neighboring backyard.
A few blocks away, Carol Hixson saw a similar animal 鈥� perhaps the same one. Her dogs raced out of the house to chase it.
鈥淭hey treed it up a telephone pole in the backyard,鈥� Hixson said, noting that it climbed nimbly with the help of long claws.
鈥淭hey looked vicious,鈥� Hixson said. 鈥淚t could have been a fierce battle with my dogs.鈥�
When they got a good luck at the creature, both Hixson and Zerylnik came to the same conclusion: coatimundi.
Coatimundi (coati for short) are relatives of the raccoon, omnivores with a slender face and long tails, which they hold upright while walking. The coati seen by Hixson and Zerylnik also had prominent white markings on its face, indicating that it was a member of the of the species Nasua narica 鈥� the white-nosed coati.
White-nosed coati have a range that spans from South America, up through Central America and Mexico, and into the American Southwest. In Arizona, they have been historically centered around the Chiricahua Mountains of the south. But in northern Arizona, and Flagstaff in particular, coati presence is uncommon.
Coati sightings in Flagstaff are 鈥渙ccasional鈥� but not 鈥渘umerous,鈥� said Susi MacVean, terrestrial wildlife specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
They are rare enough that substantive records of observation aren鈥檛 available offhand.
But that could change, said Janie Agyagos, U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist on the Red Rock Ranger District. Over the years, she has seen firsthand how coati populations have grown while making a 鈥渘orthern march鈥� through Arizona.
鈥淚 became a biologist here in the early '90s,鈥� Agyagos said. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 heard of or seen any coatimundi.鈥�
That changed in the late 1990s to early 2000s, when she received a call about a strange in animal in a resort within Sedona鈥檚 Boynton Canyon.
鈥淲hat they described to me was a coatimundi,鈥� she said.
At first, Agyagos 鈥渄idn鈥檛 really believe鈥� the report, but shortly after that, a coatimundi was killed on Highway 179 near the ranger station, confirming their presence in the region.
鈥淪ince then, and especially in the last 10 years, they've really gotten abundant,鈥� Agyagos said. 鈥淛ust over the last five years I'm getting so many reports of them. They're in the neighborhoods in Camp Verde. They're in all of our riparian drainages like Wet Beaver Creek, West Clear Creek, Fossil Creek, the Verde River.鈥�
For Agyagos, the explanation of coatimundi expansion is straightforward.
鈥淭hey're just making that northern march as climate changes. Things are warmer and there's more temperate winters,鈥� Agyagos said.
In the last 30 years, Flagstaff鈥檚 average temperature has increased by about .6 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. That might not seem like much, but it is over one fifth the way to a change of 1.5 degrees Celsius 鈥� the limit to global average temperature rise considered by scientists and the U.N. Climate Summit as necessary to avoiding the worst effects of climate change. 听
Along with this warmer average temperature in Flagstaff comes less rain, but more importantly less snow, a shift that has made Flagstaff more appealing to coatimundi.
And not just coatimundi: Javelina are also finding Flagstaff neighborhoods to be appealing real estate now that there鈥檚 less snow, said wildlife biologist Julia Camps.
鈥淢ountainaire, and Kachina, they got a lot of them because people put out food for the wildlife,鈥� Camps said, adding that she has also seen elk migration patterns shift due to less snowpack above the Mogollon Rim.
鈥淚 think milder winters are definitely allowing things [migrations],鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I'd say javelina and coati, definitely.鈥�
Agyagos seconds the observation, noting whatever rare forays certain species may have made into northern Arizona during the warm seasons were decisively reversed when winter came. 听
鈥淲hen I was young, we never had javelina in Flagstaff or Payson,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut now they live in Flag and Payson in the wintertime, year-round.鈥�
The list of strange animal migrations and behaviors related to milder winters is lengthy in northern Arizona.
鈥淭he Sonoran toad has shown up in the Verde Valley,鈥� Agyagos said. 鈥淲e just discovered that in the last year. It鈥檚 a phenomenon that's happening with quite a few species.鈥�
She went on to name birds like pinyon jays, mountain bluebirds and goldfinches that aren鈥檛 going as far as they used to for winter. She added that roadrunners are breeding at the Blue Ridge Ranger Station area (at 6,768 feet, that鈥檚 a super high elevation for non-migratory roadrunners).
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing all kinds of weird stuff,鈥� Agyagos said. 鈥淭here's a lot of change going on with climate change. And so we're just anecdotally noting all this.鈥�
But with the help of photographic documentation and good location data, 鈥渁necdotal evidence becomes biological evidence,鈥� Agyagos said. In that regard, it may be scientifically helpful to do as Zerylnik and Hixson did, and if you see a coati, take a picture.
Other than that, 鈥渓eave them alone is the best recommendation,鈥� said Jamie Haas, education coordinator for the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.
鈥淲ith any wildlife, never feed them, never touch them,鈥� Haas said. 鈥淭hat's for their safety, as well as yours and your pets.鈥�
An injurious coati-canine showdown 鈥� and potentially expensive veterinary bill 鈥� is at the front of Hixson鈥檚 mind. The initial run-in between her dogs and the Flagstaff coati was not her last. Later, she saw it lazing in the sun, nestled in a neighbor鈥檚 gutter. She worries that it will decide to do what she has seen coati in Costa Rica do and make a living by pillaging trash cans.
鈥淚t's been just chilling in a suburban neighborhood for like three or four days now,鈥� Hixson said. 鈥淚t seems to have a range of a relatively few houses, as if it's decided, Yes, this looks like a good place to hang.鈥� And I鈥檓 thinking my house is not a good place to hang. Please move on.鈥�
This browser does not support the video element.