Hikers exploring the wet, wild canyons on the Mexico-Arizona border occasionally stumble across the grunting, chirping and squealing antics of one of the Southwest’s most endearing animals. Banded together in extended social groups, coatimundis resemble a tribe of land-bound monkeys, as described by early explorers. They live together, forage together and raise their young together--all the while forming lifelong attachments in extended social groupings.

“A chulo tribe is one of the more intricately, subtly organized mammalian social groups, less complex than most human societies, comparable perhaps to those of the chimpanzee or the baboon,” wrote Bil Gilbert, a Pennsylvania naturalist who spent a year living among the coatis and learning about the relatively unknown species in 1970.

Clever, crafty and complex, the unusual omnivores perplexed European naturalists recording wildlife indigenous to the New World. Coatimundis are one of four medium-size mammals belonging to the Procyonidae family, which includes raccoons, ring-tailed cats and kinkajou.

Coatimundis live in great abundance from Argentina to northern Mexico and now southeastern Arizona and in a few small pockets along the border from southern New Mexico to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Ranchers in the Rincon Mountains reported seeing bands of odd-looking creatures in the early 1900s, with the first scientific sightings recorded in the 1920s. Pioneers, cowpunchers and prospectors stumbling across the nimble coatimundi incorrectly identified the elusive animals by a number of names: anteaters, Mexican monkeys and chulo bears.

When coming across a tribe shuffling though the winding canyons, a coatimundi looks like a modern-day griffin, assembled from parts borrowed from other animals. Its lumbering gait seems bearlike, while its long, ring-striped tail seem stolen from a monkey. Its expressive face has a distinctive mask similar to that of a raccoon, and the coatimundi uses its long snout to rout in the leaf litter for tuberous roots, insects and small lizards.

In fact the coatimundis diverse palate is one of the things that has allowed it to increase its range into North America, even though the arid habitat varies dramatically from its native jungle forests. In addition to the tasty tidbits coatis uncover on the canyon floor, they also munch on wild fruit, nuts snakes, carrion, young birds, rodents and other small animals.

“The one thing about coatimundis is they are always moving from sunup to sunset,” said Bill Van Pelt, non-game mammals program manager at the Arizona Department of Game and Fish. “There are no idle moments in their lives. With their insatiable appetites, they are continuously in search of food.”

As part of their social structure, coatimundis break off into foraging bands each morning. Headed by alpha females and flanked by lesser dominant females, juveniles and males, the band sweeps the forest floor. Using vocal grunting signals, the animals are constantly communicating to keep track of one another and alert others to the quantity of food in any given area.

Other signals in their vocal repertoire include squeals, used mainly by juveniles to signal alarm; chirps, used to express affection; and an unusual laughing “ha-ha” sound, signaling amusement or a taunting contempt. They also use their long tails, which at 2 feet measure half of their body length, as semaphores. The striped beacons, easily seen above tall grass, draw attention, punctuate warning grunts and indicate extreme agitation.

Unlike most mammals, coatis are almost entirely diurnal by nature--foraging, grooming and socializing between dawn and dusk. Males, forced into solitary confinement from September to March, hang around the fringe of the tight matriarchal group until they are allowed to rejoin the tribe in April for the mating season. The males then dominate the bands when the females hole up in dens to bear litters of three or more in late June. After weaning their babies, the females rejoin the tribe in September and chase off the males, although the females weigh about 9 pounds and the males about 14.

With their heavy claws and low-slung bodies, coatimundis are great climbers and in their Central and South American tropical habitats they often build nest platforms in trees. However, in southern Arizona, coatis use caves and crevices in limestone outcroppings for dens—but occasionally they find trees large enough to house a family.

One evening Van Pelt discovered a group nesting in an immense cottonwood rooted on the mossy banks of Arivaca Creek.

“I heard chirping overhead and shone my spotlight in the branches and there they were,” recalled Van Pelt. “All of that green eye-shine looking out of the tree branches in the dark made me think about the forest scene in Snow White. It was an eerie experience.”

And when his hair couldn’t stand up any straighter, one of the coati called down to him, getting in one good, long, last laugh.

Carrie Miner of Glendale is grateful  that she only has to deal with her twin sons at dinnertime instead of an entire foraging band.