Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Ocelots are most pop­u­lous in Cen­tral Amer­ica but can be found in all coun­tries be­tween south­east­ern United States (Texas, Ari­zona) and north­ern Ar­gentina. They are found in higher den­sity clus­ters in north­ern Cen­tral Amer­ica, north­west­ern South Amer­ica, north­east­ern South Amer­ica, and cen­tral south­ern South Amer­ica. ("Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; "The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species", 2008; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996; Wozen­craft, 2005)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Ocelots are found in a va­ri­ety of habi­tats, in­clud­ing trop­i­cal forests, sa­van­nah grass­lands, man­grove forests and marshes, and thorn scrub re­gions. They gen­er­ally live at el­e­va­tions below 1,200 m, but have been sighted at 3,800 m as well. Their pri­mary habi­tat re­quire­ment is dense veg­e­ta­tive cover. Ocelots are found in open areas only when it's cloudy or at night when there is a new moon. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• chaparral
• forest
• rainforest
• scrub forest

• Wetlands
• marsh

• Range elevation

  <1200 to 3800 m

  to 12467.19 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Ocelots are the largest mem­ber of the genus Leop­ar­dus. They weigh be­tween 8.5 and 16 kg, are be­tween 65 and 97 cm long, and males are con­sid­er­ably larger than fe­males. Their pelage is shorter and less soft and thick than their close rel­a­tive, the mar­gay (Leop­ar­dus wiedii). Their ven­tral pelage is white and their dor­sal pelage ranges from off-white to tawny-yel­low to red­dish-gray. Pelage col­oration varies with habi­tat, as ocelots from arid scrub re­gions have grayer coats than those found in trop­i­cal forests. En­tirely black in­di­vid­u­als have been seen but are rare. Usu­ally, ocelots have dark streaks, blotches, or rosettes arranged in small clus­ters around dark-col­ored areas that tend to run in par­al­lel, hor­i­zon­tal chains. Rosettes and blotches are bor­dered with black and have a lighter-col­ored cen­ter. Ocelots have two black stripes on their cheeks, black ears with a cen­tral yel­low spot, and one or two black trans­verse bars on the in­sides of the legs. Fa­cial pat­terns are very dis­tinct, per­mit­ting easy recog­ni­tion of in­di­vid­u­als. Their long tail is typ­i­cally ringed, but may only be marked with dark bars on the dor­sal sur­face. Rel­a­tive to body-size, they have large paws, which is why their Span­ish name is "manig­ordo", mean­ing big feet. Ad­di­tion­ally, their fore paws are broader than their hind paws. Like other mem­bers of the sub­or­der Fe­li­formia, ocelots lack a third molar, have an ab­sent or re­duced post­g­le­noid fora­men at the base of the skulls, and an an­te­rior pala­tine canal that passes through the max­illa. They have a con­cave muz­zle and the den­tal for­mula is 3/3, 1/1, 3/2, 1/1 for a total of 30 teeth. Their basal meta­bolic rate is ap­prox­i­mately 0.298 cm^3 oxy­gen/hour. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; Kitch­ener, 1991; McNab, 2000; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  8.5 to 16 kg

  18.72 to 35.24 lb

• Range length

  65 to 97 cm

  25.59 to 38.19 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  .298 cm3.O2/g/hr

• Average basal metabolic rate

  17.368 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Ocelots are soli­tary and polyg­y­nous, with a sin­gle male home range over­lap­ping those of sev­eral fe­males. Dur­ing es­trus, fe­males at­tract po­ten­tial mates by mak­ing loud yowls, sim­i­lar to those made by do­mes­tic cats (Felis catus). After mat­ing pairs are formed, ocelots cop­u­late be­tween 5 and 10 times daily. The like­li­hood of con­cep­tion per es­trus, which lasts ap­prox­i­mately 5 days, is 0.6. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Ocelots are year-round breed­ers in the trop­ics, but au­tumn and win­ter birthing peaks re­port­edly occur in the north­ern parts of their range (e.g., Mex­ico and Texas). Es­trus lasts 4.63 days on av­er­age, and their es­trus cycle lasts 25.11 days on av­er­age. Once preg­nant, fe­males cre­ate a den in thick brush where par­tu­ri­tion oc­curs. Ges­ta­tion lasts 79 to 85 days, and lit­ter sizes range from 1 to 3 kit­tens, with an av­er­age of 1.63 kit­tens/lit­ter. Young weigh be­tween 200 and 340 g at birth. Fe­males are thought to have 1 lit­ter every 2 years. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Ocelots are weaned by 6 weeks old and reach adult size at about 8 to 10 months old. Fe­males reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at 18 to 22 months old and may breed until they are 13 years old. Males may be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture as early as 15 months; how­ever, sper­mato­ge­n­e­sis typ­i­cally be­gins around 30 months. Ev­i­dence sug­gests that sex­ual mat­u­ra­tion in males is re­lated to ter­ri­tory ac­qui­si­tion. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Ocelots typically have one to two young every two years.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 3

• Average number of offspring

  1.63

• Average number of offspring

  2

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  79 to 85 days

• Average weaning age

  6 weeks

• Average time to independence

  12 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  18 to 22 months

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  15 (low) months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  30 months

Fe­males alone pro­vide parental care to their young. Ju­ve­nile ocelots are weaned by 6 weeks old and begin to ob­serve their mother dur­ing hunts a few months after birth. They are in­de­pen­dent at ap­prox­i­mately 1 year, but may be tol­er­ated in their mother's home range until about 2 years old. After dis­pers­ing, ju­ve­niles must find their own ter­ri­to­ries. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Kitch­ener, 1991; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• female parental care
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In the wild, ocelots live be­tween 7 and 10 years. The old­est known cap­tive ocelot lived to be 21.5 years old in the Phoenix Zoo. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  7 to 10 years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  21.5 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  20.3 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Like many cats, Leop­ar­dus pardalis is soli­tary. It gen­er­ally trav­els alone, but may form loose as­so­ci­a­tions with con­specifics in ad­ja­cent ter­ri­to­ries. It com­mu­ni­cates by mew­ing and at­tracts po­ten­tial mates via yowl­ing. Leop­ar­dus pardalis, which is noc­tur­nal and cre­pus­cu­lar, can be found sleep­ing dur­ing the day, likely in hol­low trees, amidst thick veg­e­ta­tion, or on branches. Al­though ter­res­trial, L. pardalis is also adept at climb­ing, jump­ing, and swim­ming. It is ac­tive for over 12 hours/day, dur­ing which time it can travel be­tween 1.8 and 6.7 km, with males trav­el­ing nearly twice as far as fe­males. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; Kitch­ener, 1991; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Key Behaviors
• scansorial
• cursorial
• terricolous
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• solitary
• territorial

• Range territory size

  2 to 31 km^2

Home Range

Ocelots are highly ter­ri­to­r­ial. Their home ranges are be­tween 2 and 31 km^2, de­pend­ing on habi­tat. Male ranges are larger than fe­males and do not over lap with those of other males. How­ever, as in many other mam­malian species male ranges tend to over­lap with those of sev­eral fe­males. Pop­u­la­tion den­si­ties av­er­age 4 in­di­vid­u­als per every 5 km^2 in low­land trop­i­cal forests and 2 to 5 in­di­vid­u­als per every 5 km^2 in more open re­gions, in­clud­ing non­breed­ing tran­sients. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; Kitch­ener, 1991; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Leop­ar­dus pardalis has keen senses of smell and vi­sion. It uses its sense of smell to lo­cate, track, and ap­proach prey as well as to de­ter­mine ter­ri­to­r­ial bound­aries. They have acute binoc­u­lar vi­sion that is well-de­vel­oped for hunt­ing at night. Leop­ar­dus pardalis com­mu­ni­cates with con­specifics using chem­i­cal sig­nals to de­mar­cate ter­ri­to­r­ial bound­aries and vo­cal­iza­tions (e.g., mews and yowls) to at­tract and com­mu­ni­cate with po­ten­tial mates. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Kitch­ener, 1991)

• Communication Channels
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones
• scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Ocelots are highly skilled hunters, track­ing prey by odor trails, and have an av­er­age of 0.9 prey cap­tures per kilo­me­ter trav­eled. Once a prey item is cap­tured, they eat at the kill site and cover the re­mains when they are fin­ished. Sim­i­lar to other fe­lids, ocelots are well-adapted to their car­niv­o­rous diet, shear­ing in­gested tis­sue from car­casses with their car­nas­sials, while de­pend­ing on strong di­ges­tive en­zymes to help break down in­gested pro­teins. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; Kitch­ener, 1991; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

The diet of ocelots con­sists of 65 to 66% small ro­dents, 12 to 18% rep­tiles, 6 to 10% medium-sized mam­mals, 4 to 11% birds, and 2 to 7% crus­taceans and fish. Their pri­mary prey con­sists of noc­tur­nal species, in­clud­ing cane mice (Zy­godon­to­mys), spiny rats (Echimyi­dae), com­mon agoutis (Dasyprocta), opos­sums (Didel­phi­mor­phia), and ar­madil­los (Cin­gu­lata). Al­though most prey weighs less than 1 to 3% of their body weight, ocelots also take larger prey, in­clud­ing lesser anteaters (Taman­dua tetradactyla), red brocket deer Mazama amer­i­cana, squir­rel mon­keys (Saimiri sci­ureus), and land tor­toises (Tes­tu­dinidae). ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; Flynn and Wes­ley-Hunt, 2005; Kitch­ener, 1991; Red­ford, et al., 1992; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• reptiles
• fish
• mollusks
• aquatic crustaceans

Pre­da­tion

Al­though preda­tors them­selves, ocelots oc­ca­sion­ally be­come the prey of harpy ea­gles (Harpia harpyja), pumas (Puma con­color), jaguars (Pan­thera onca), and ana­con­das (Eu­nectes mur­i­nus). Many of the char­ac­ter­is­tics that make them great preda­tors may be use­ful as an­tipreda­tor de­fense mech­a­nisms (e.g., cam­ou­flage, keen senses, etc.). (Red­ford and Eisen­berg, 1989; Red­ford and Eisen­berg, 1989)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja)
  • puma (Puma concolor)
  • jaguar (Panthera onca)
  • anaconda (Eunectes murinus)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Ocelots sig­nif­i­cantly im­pact their en­vi­ron­ment as preda­tors. Al­though they feed pri­mar­ily on ter­res­trial ver­te­brates, ocelots are op­por­tunis­tic hunters and prey upon many types of an­i­mals. Oc­ca­sion­ally, they serve as prey for larger car­ni­vores (e.g., jaguar, Pan­thera onca) and are host to nu­mer­ous par­a­sites. (Pat­ton, et al., 1986; Red­ford, et al., 1992)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

From the early 1960's to the mid 1980's, there was high de­mand for spot­ted-cat furs in West­ern so­ci­ety. Dur­ing this time, a coat made of ocelot fur could sell for $40,000 (U.S.) in west­ern Ger­many. Ocelots were also pop­u­lar as ex­otic pets, cost­ing as much as $800 per in­di­vid­ual. After the 1975 Con­ven­tion on In­ter­na­tional Trade in En­dan­gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the in­ter­na­tional trade of ocelots and their by-prod­ucts (e.g., fur) be­came il­le­gal in most coun­tries. How­ever, one can still buy such items at the Man­agua In­ter­na­tional Air­port in Nicaragua or il­le­gally on the black mar­ket. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Ocelots may be ben­e­fi­cial to hu­mans by con­trol­ling ro­dent pop­u­la­tions that could be con­sid­ered agri­cul­tural pests. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• body parts are source of valuable material
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

In re­gions where nat­ural prey abun­dances have been sig­nif­i­cantly re­duced, ocelots may kill and eat do­mes­tic fowl. ("Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Due to their abun­dance and broad dis­tri­b­u­tion, ocelots are list as a species of "least con­cern" ac­cord­ing to the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Major threats to their per­sis­tence in­clude habi­tat loss and frag­men­ta­tion, il­le­gal trade as pets and pelts, and re­tal­ia­tory killings by poul­try farm­ers. De­spite this, ocelots have made a strong re­cov­ery and it was es­ti­mated that there were be­tween 1.5 and 3 mil­lion ocelots liv­ing in 1996. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Due to their pop­u­lar­ity in West­ern fur trade, ocelots were nearly ex­tinct by the mid 1980's. Con­cern over their po­ten­tial ex­tinc­tion con­tributed to the for­ma­tion of the 1975 Con­ven­tion on In­ter­na­tional Trade in En­dan­gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The sell­ing of ocelot fur sig­nif­i­cantly de­creased in the 1980's and is no longer con­sid­ered a threat to their sur­vival. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Once found as far east as Louisiana and Arkansas and now found only in south­ern­most Texas, Leop­ar­dus pardalis albescens is the only sub­species that is clas­si­fied as en­dan­gered. This sub­species' de­clin­ing num­bers are likely the re­sult of habi­tat loss, which is forc­ing in­di­vid­u­als to have larger home ranges in order to sup­port their daily prey re­quire­ments. How­ever, larger home ranges may de­crease mat­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties. ("Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae", 1999; "Cats (Fe­l­i­dae)", 2004; De la Rosa and Nocke, 2000; "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered

• CITES

  Appendix I

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Leop­ar­dus pardalis has mul­ti­ple com­mon names through­out its range, in­clud­ing "gato mara­caja" in Brazil and Paraguay, "gato onza" in Ar­gentina, Bo­livia, and Peru, and "manig­ordo" in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela. ("IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group", 1996)

Con­trib­u­tors

Jessi Kit­tel (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, John Berini (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

1999. Car­nivora: Fe­l­i­dae. Pp. 816-817 in R Nowak, ed. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Vol. Vol. 1, Sixth Ed. Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The John Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

2004. Cats (Fe­l­i­dae). Pp. 369-383 in M Hutchins, D Kleiman, V Geist, eds. Grz­imek's An­i­mal Life En­cy­clo­pe­dia, Vol. Vol. 14, Third Ed. Edi­tion. Farm­ing­ton Hills, MI: Gale Group.

The World Con­ser­va­tion Union. 1996. "IUCN/SSC Cat Spe­cial­ist Group" (On-line). Cat Species In­for­ma­tion - Ocelot (Leop­ar­dus pardalis). Ac­cessed April 08, 2009 at http://​www.​catsg.​org.

2008. "The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species" (On-line). Leop­ar­dus pardalis. Ac­cessed April 11, 2009 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org.

De la Rosa, C., C. Nocke. 2000. A Guide to the Car­ni­vores of Cen­tral Amer­ica. Austin: Uni­ver­sity of Texas Press.

Flynn, J., G. Wes­ley-Hunt. 2005. Car­nivora. Pp. 175-179 in K Rose, J Archibald, eds. The Rise of Pla­cen­tal Mam­mals. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The John Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Kitch­ener, A. 1991. The Nat­ural His­tory of the Wild Cats. Ithaca, New Yor: Cor­nell Uni­ver­sity Press.

McNab, B. 2000. The stan­dard en­er­get­ics of mam­malian car­ni­vores: Fe­l­i­dae and Hyaenidae. Cana­dian Jour­nal of Zo­ol­ogy, 63(1): 25-54.

Pat­ton, S., A. Ra­bi­nowitz, S. John­son. 1986. A co­pro­log­i­cal study of par­a­sites of wild neotrop­i­cal fe­l­i­dae.. The Jour­nal of Par­a­sitol­ogy, Vol. 72, No. 4: 517-520.

Red­ford, K., J. Eisen­berg. 1989. Ad­vances in Neotrop­i­cal Mam­mal­ogy. Uni­ver­sity of Texas: Sand­hill Crane Press.

Red­ford, K., J. Eisen­berg, F. Reid. 1992. Mam­mals of the Neotrop­ics: the South­ern Core. Chicago: Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Press.

Wozen­craft, W. 2005. Order Car­nivora. Pp. 532-539 in D Wil­son, D Reeder, eds. Mam­mal Species of the World, Vol. Vol. 1, Third Ed. Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more: The John Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.