Ocelot // Cierra Heiland

Figure 1.

Ocelot (Leopardus Paradalis)

Description and Ecology:

This short furred southwestern native is not your typical house cat. Sharing many similar characteristics with the bobcat, the ocelot ranges from the very southern region of Texas all the way to northern Argentina. One of the most enticing things about this cat is their coat. Many ocelots contain unique patterns with golden fur over most of its body accompanied by a white or cream belly with a variety of patterns. Similar to their larger cat friends such as the mountain lions and jaguars they have extremely good vision and hearing. Ocelots can actually see as well at night as humans can during the day. This would help to explain how active they are around the night. This energetic cat reamins active for 12-14 hours every day and spends the majority of that time hunting. If you're a dog person you'll find no surprise in knowing that ocelots prefer to be solitary in most of their time. Although they are sometimes observed around other adults or interacting with their parents, they typically keep to themselves. Their life span ranges up to 13.8 years.

Figure 2.

Diet and Habitat:

Figure 3.

Ocelots typically gravitate towards tropical areas. They surround themselves with thick vegetation which they use to their advantage to hide in or sleep in. If habitat degradation occurs and trees and bushes are cut down, ocelots will often leave. Currently in the US their most common territories include Arizona and Texas. Ocelots also make an appearance in Mexico. Many of the ocelots populations are in large separated from each other which leads to dangers and threats among the species.
Since Ocelots are nocturnal their diet is made up of many nocturnal rodents such as mice, possums, armadillos, and anteaters. They make the most of seasonal changes and will hunt fish and land crabs when they are abundant during the wet season. As surprising this is for cats, ocelots are actually strong swimmers.

Geographic and Population Changes:

Figure 4.

Fragmentation, habitat conversion, and loss continue to threaten ocelots today. Before human development ocelots' populations remained connected, however with the development of agriculture or urbanization many populations have become isolated from each other. Many of these issues arise from separation by roads and most apparent in the US and Mexico is the border. Due to the loss in habitat and separation, it is leading to a lot of inbreeding within the small segments of ocelots. Another dramatic population change came about due to commercial exploitation and illegal hunting. Some of this illegal killing still continues, and although it has significantly declined it is still hard to regulate. Previously Ocelots were also exposed to the fur trade, and were often found very attractive due to their unique fur (figure 4). At one point they were the spotted cat that was most heavily exploited by the fur trade. It could take up to 25 ocelots to make one coat, and people used to pay more for an ocelot coat than they did for a car. Since 1972 it has been illegal to bring ocelots or their skins to the US. Today, there are many signs of recovery for the Ocelot. Their population is thought to be around 1.5-3 million and increasing.  

Listing Date and Type of Listing:

The Ocelot was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It is also listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This means that commercial trade of any animals listed in this appendix is strictly prohibited. By the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it is listed as "least concern".

Description of the Recovery Plan:

Figure 5.

A recovery plan was drafted in 2016. The strategy for recovery focused mainly on the US and Mexico territory. One of the most significant ideas was to reconnect and restore sufficient habitat to support both of the populations. They planned to do this through reducing the effects of human population growth and urbanization through incentives for landowners. The main goals of recovery should be completely met by 2115 where the Ocelot will then be removed from the list. In total the restoration plan will cost over 300,000,000 dollars. The goal of the entire plan is to "recover and delist the ocelot, with down listing from endangered to threatened status as an intermediate goal.

What Can You Do?

The Ocelots have various threats still to this day, including habitat loss due to agriculture, hunting for their fur,  and the pet trade. There are so many little things we can do to protect this animal and foster their growth. Become a defender of wildlife! This allows you to stay informed and support the habitat rehabilitation for Ocelots. Speak up for the wildlife, you can be a powerful advocate for wildlife conservation by writing to our government. Don't support the illegal pet trade, if an animal is illegal in your state don't support into it no matter how cute the animal may be. 

Visit this link to make a difference: https://defenders.org/ocelot/what-you-can-do

References

• Figure 1: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/o/ocelot/
• Figure 2: https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/ocelot/
• Figure 3: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?sId=4474
• Figure 4: https://naturepunk.deviantart.com/art/VERY-VERY-OLD-OCELOT-PELT-202882247
• Figure 5: https://allaboutocelots.wordpress.com/