Meet the Cat Family! Latin America's Ocelot Lineage: Meet The Cat Family!, #5

By B. J. Deming

Andean cats, Pampas cats, guignas, Geoffroy's cats, margays, little tiger cats/oncillas, and (yes) ocelots.

 

None of these New World cuties are as well known as the jaguar or puma, but each deserves recognition on its own terms as a beautiful group of little felines, occupying a special place in the wilds of Latin America (and, occasionally, in the US Southwest).

 

Sit back and meet these small spotted members of the cat family now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: B. J. Deming
• Release date: Feb 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393384892

B. J. Deming

Barb is a layperson, retired from medical transcription after twenty-five years, and enjoying a new chance to explore earth science thanks to the Internet and (finally) some free time.  She has been blogging at FlightToWonder.com for years, tweets at Twitter.com/@bjdeming, and is hoping to make this science writing gig full-time in 2021.

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Preface

In the Americas, jaguars are the only native  big cat.  Two members of the puma group —pumas and jaguarundis—live here, too.  However, since African and Asian cheetahs are also part of the puma lineage, this group, as well as the big cat line, are covered in the international lineages book of this series.

Don't worry.  There are still many wild spotted cats running around out there.

That's the ocelot lineage!

These cute small cats have a different number of chromosomes than any other cat in the world.  Some of them hybridize (breed with other species).  And as you're about to find out, many members of the ocelot lineage look very much alike.

All these peculiarities may have to do with the geologically recent arrival of North American cats and other placental mammals in South America, through the newly formed Isthmus of Panama.

Up until that point, South American wildlife had evolved in isolation from the rest of the world.  Many of these animals couldn't cope very well with the invasion of North American species.

There were many extinctions during the Great American Biotic Exchange.  This opened up even more niches for cats and other newcomers.

When so many opportunities suddenly become available, things like hybrid swarms and adaptive radiations can happen, according to some experts.

That's probably why the ocelot lineage is a little weird.  Fortunately, we don't have to get into these details in this introduction to Andean cats, Pampas cats, guignas, Geoffroy's cats, margays, little tiger cats/oncillas, and (yes) ocelots.

None is as well known as the jaguar and puma, but each species deserves recognition on its own terms as a beautiful group of little felines, occupying a special place in the wilds of Latin America (and, occasionally, in the US Southwest).

Let's meet these small spotted members of the cat family now!

Ocelot

Jitze Couperus, CC BY 2.0

Name: 

There is a little uncertainty about where ocelot comes from.  Aztecs had the word ocelotl, per Wikipedia, but they used it more for jaguars.

Another possible origin is ocellatus, which is Latin for having little eyes.  (Sunquist and Sunquist; Wikipedia)

Not that there's anything unusual about an ocelot's beautiful golden-brown eyes—it's just a good way to describe those striking coat patterns.

That complex mixture of spots, bars, and rosettes has certainly influenced the ocelot's scientific name, Leopardus pardalis. 

Both Leopardus and pardalis come from the same root as leopard, though old-timers used that word, sometimes shortening it to pard,  for many spotted cat species, not just the famous big cat Panthera pardus.

It was confusing for everybody.  Today, scientific studies confirm that leopards and members of the small-cat genus Leopardus are not related (other than being cats).

This simple fact will help you keep it straight—jaguars are the only big cat in Leopardus country.

Lineage: 

Ocelots are the namesake for the lineage that all small Latin American cats belong to (except the jaguarundi, which shares a genetic branch with pumas and cheetahs).

Outstanding Features:

Most preferred pelt in the United States during the height of the fur fashion craze in the 1960s and early 1970s.With up to 200,000 skins sold each