10 Facts About Ocelots

Known as the painted leopard
One of the most beautiful wild cats is ocelot. It is also known as the “painted leopard”. Ocelot is twice the size of an average house cat, and significantly smaller than the “real leopard”.

Nocturnal animal
Ocelot is a nocturnal animal that spends its days sleeping in dense vegetation or high and leafy branches. To be able to hunt during the night, have excellent hearing and vision, and communicate with each other in a low-pitched meows. They hunt their prey mostly on the ground.

They can not chew food
They do not have teeth suited for chewing and when they kill prey, tear it into pieces and swallow. They have a rough tongue and therefore seize every piece of food. Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, such as rodents, but they can hunt lizards, snakes, birds and even monkeys, if the opportunity arises.

During 1900s almost extinct
It is covered with beautiful short fur. Their fur can be of golden-yellow to reddish-gray, streaked with dark stripes and spots. Because of the velvety fur were targeted by hunters while in the middle of the 20th century were even threatened with extinction.

Not afraid of water
Ocelot is not afraid of water, which is usually thought of cats. They are very good swimmers and are active 12 hours a day. Because they are not afraid of water often catches fish and frogs.

Were popular as pets
At one time it was popular to keep them as pets, so people took out fangs and claws to make them harmless. Are not ideal as pets because they grow twice the size of house cats and have an aggressive temperament.

Ocelot fact file

Salvador Dali and ocelot
One of most famous painters, Salvador Dali, had an ocelot as pet. He often traveled with it, even took his Ocelot on a cruise. On one occasion he took his cat in a luxury restaurant and fed it at the table, which caused a scandal.

Chinese little tigers
Forest ocelots have darker fur than those who inhabit the thicket. Because they have stripes around the neck, in China are known as the little tigers. On the black market price fro one live ocelot reaches 1000 to 3000 US dollars.

Fight to the death
In the fighting for territory will fight to the death with other members of their species. Most of the year lives alone, and the exception is the mating season. They spend their days in the trees or a hill.

Jaguar is enemy
The only natural enemy of ocelot is jaguar. It kills them because they represents competition for foods, and sometimes feed on them. Therefore ocelot has white and black spots on the back of the head that look like eyes. This ocelot serves as protection, because the jaguar prefers to attack only when its prey is not looking.