Guiana Shield Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Kuquenan Falls. The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana (previously British Guiana), Suriname (previously Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana (or Guyane), most of
South American coati South America. Most of its distribution is in the lowlands east of the Andes (locally, it occurs as high as ), from Colombia and The Guianas south to Uruguay and northern Argentina. Chile is the only South American country where the species is not found. The status of coatis west of the Andes has caused some confusion, but specimen records from west Ecuador, and north and west Colombia are South American coatis. The only documented records of white-nosed coatis in South America are from far northwestern Colombia (Gulf of Urabá region, near Colombian border with Panama). The smaller mountain coatis