What was that odd critter caught along a Hill Country highway?

Hill Country officials found an unusual visitor at a highway intersection on Monday — a white-nosed coatimundi.

Comal County Sheriff’s Office staffers caught the lost critter along Texas 46 near the Vintage Oaks neighborhood, a few miles south of Canyon Lake.

Coatimundis are small mammals in the raccoon family, according to the National Park Service. They can weigh from 4 pounds to 17 pounds, and have long snouts that they use to root in the soil for grubs and other invertebrates.

The animals are rarely seen this far north, and the coatimundi that was captured in Comal County was not a wild one. Its owners were located Monday, the sheriff’s office said.

Coatimundis are more common in South America and Central America, although their range does extend to Arizona, New Mexico and South Texas.

There are four species of coatis, with only the white-nosed coati being native to parts of Texas and the southern United States. White-nosed coatis used to live in much of southern Texas, according to Texas Tech University. Now they are “known only from the Big Bend and Padre Island areas,” the university’s website said, noting that “recent Texas sightings in the (those) areas suggest that coatis may be making a comeback in the state.”

The Texas Wildlife and Parks Department lists the coatimundi as a threatened species, meaning it is illegal to hunt the animals.