Ocelot, a very fascinating animal, often appreciated not as a living being but as a ” fur supplier “. It is a sad truth that is useless to keep silent, better to tell it, illustrating its animal, wild, alive side, and hoping that it is less and less used for purposes other than natural documentaries, wildlife studies and … photographs by harmless amateurs and professionals.
Ocelot: characteristics
This wild feline is also called the American Leopard and is in all respects part of the Felidae family like many of its relatives such as the Ocicat and the Margay. The Ocelot lives mainly in the areas of Central and South America, as well as in certain parts of Mexico. In general, we find this animal in tropical areas, swamps, dry forests, and mountainous areas.
It can be one meter long, but also 50 cm, especially if female, and weighs around 10-17 kg , its coat is a spectacle, as mentioned. A true work of art. It has streaks and spotted areas of black color, on a brown or reddish background, towards the legs and tail the black spots are increasingly dense while in the areas of the face, neck and shoulders the stripes are more present and evident, always black and always unpredictably irregular.
There are many factors that influence the distribution of spots and stripes , such as the quality of the coloration: the environment, sex, age and even chance. In addition to being beautiful, the Ocelot’s coat is very useful for hunting, in which it uses camouflage among the thick vegetation to ambush, being an extremely agile animal.
Ocelot: fur
It is difficult to say whether you remember the spotted coat of a cheetah or a jaguar more , but the Ocelot’s coat is certainly soft and particularly thick. In addition to the variety of spots and streaks, the background color can also be different from one specimen to another. Gray or dark brown , but also yellowish or orange on the upper part, while the lower part is almost always light.
Its beauty has also brought it many problems, it was hunted massively for its fur processing to the point of being considered, between 1972 and 1996, an animal at risk of extinction with its inclusion in the IUCN Red List. Today, fortunately, the situation has improved but it is still an animal to be protected. Things have changed thanks to the commitment of animal rights movements that have highlighted what was happening to this feline.
Ocelot: puppy
Each pair has one or two cubs at a time. The mating season depends on the place where the animal lives and the climate there, and it is the only time when the various local specimens gather in a group. After mating, each one goes back to its own business, demonstrating that the Ocelot is not a particularly sociable and social animal.
Gestation lasts about 80 days, after birth for the first six weeks the cubs stay with their mother in the den, she is always the one who takes care of feeding them while the father is absolutely not involved in this process of growth and education for life.
As they get older, the cubs begin to accompany their mother during hunting to learn to hunt for food on their own for the rest of their lives. After three months they are usually completely weaned, they can remain in the same territory as their mother until about 2-3 years of age , then they are invited to move away and build their own independent life, in a different area.
Ocelot: breeding
Ocelot breeding is linked to their fur and we hope to see fewer and fewer of them. They are certainly not animals to be bred for domestic use, as pets, given their generally solitary and nocturnal nature.
When it is light they hide in secluded places and sleep, at night they roam their territory, marked with feces and urine, hunting and attacking anyone who wants to invade it. They eat large vertebrates, over 1 kg in weight, and then birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates such as crabs and insects. It is not an animal suitable for breeding but for freedom.