Ocelot Facts

Ocelot Facts

1. The Ocelot is a beautiful medium sized spotted cat with body dimensions similar to the bobcat (30-41 inches long and 15-30 lbs).  Its body coloration is variable; with the upper parts gray or buff with dark brown or black spots, small rings, blotches, and short bars.  A key feature is the parallel stripes running down the nape of the neck.  The under parts are white spotted with black.  The Ocelot’s long tail is ringed or marked with dark bars on the upper surface. The backs of the rounded ears are black with a white central spot.

2. Ocelots have an excellent coat for the environment in which they live in. Also they have super sharp claws to kill their prey and climb trees. Ocelots of many adaptions some of them are huge eyes for night vision and can swim. Ocelots have a special feature like all cats it has retractable claws. So this helps keep the ocelots claws very sharp. Though the ocelots ears are short its hearing is super.

3. The ocelots name came from the Mexican Aztec word tlalocelot, which means field tiger.

4. Leopardus pardalis is the ocelots scientific name ..

5. These largely nocturnal cats use keen sight and hearing to hunt rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish.

6. The ocelots Protection status is : Threatened .

7. Due the fact that Ocelots are high strung, unpredictable, comedic little cats, humans de-fanged, de-clawed, de-scented, and altered these cats in order to make them conform to the “pet” industry.

8. Ocelots produce a litter of 1-2 young

9. Ocelots are mammals.  They weigh 24 to 35 pounds and are 5 feet long. They have whiskers, a mouth, a nose, legs, ears, eyes, a tail and teeth-like scissors.

10. People kill ocelots for fur to make coats.  People take over ocelot land and make it into farmland.  Ocelots are sold as pets in the U.S and they are threatened.

11. Ocelots live in South America, Arizona, and south Texas. They live in rain forests, jungles, dens and brushes. They like to live alone in trees and rest there so other animals won't see them.

12. Ocelots are carnivores. They eat peccaries, snakes, rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish, frogs, monkeys and birds. They hunt their prey at night, stock their food, and chase prey.  They tear their food into little parts.

13. Ocelots like to swim and are amazing climbers.  They travel 1 to 3 hours looking for food.  They are speedy and active at night.  They also fight fiercely to death.

14. Ocelots mark their territory with urine.

15. Ocelots are predators.  They feed on bobcats, coyotes, and humans.  Male ocelots are called torns.  Females are called queens.  Baby ocelots are called kittens. Baby ocelots live with their mother for 2 years and then they leave their dens. They are nocturnal and have whitish, yellowish, reddish, and gray fur. They are 28 to 35 inches long and weigh 11 to 16 kilogram.

16. As nocturnal hunters, they move at night and are rarely seen by people.

17. Ocelots are the only remaining spotted cat in the United States.

18. Female ocelots have litters of two or three darkly colored kittens. In northern locations, females den in the autumn, while in tropical climates the breeding season may not be fixed.

19.  Average 50" in length, from the tip of the tail to the tip of the nose.

20. Ocelot males confine themselves to a range of up to 7 square miles, while females inhabit smaller areas of about 4 square miles. A male's home range usually overlaps that of several females.

21. They are generally solitary animals, except during the breeding season.

22. Ocelots can adapt to human habitats and are sometimes found in the vicinity of villages or other settlements. They do fairly well as long as hunting pressure isn't too intense and they have appropriate habitat available to them.

23.  Unlike many cats, they do not avoid water and can swim well.