Ocelot: The Dwarf Leopard

By: Alyssa Wilson

What are the characteristics of an ocelot?

The ocelot is a pale gray to cinnamon-colored medium-sized animal. It has spots, a ringed tail, and stripes on its neck and cheeks. It has black rounded ears with a distinct white spot, and it weighs 7-16 kg and has 30 teeth. Ocelots are divided into 11 subspecies from the southwestern U.S. to northern Argentina. Two of these subspecies are in the U.S., particularly in Texas (Tamaulipas) and Arizona (Sonora) (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

What is the ecology of ocelots?

They follow a nocturnal pattern probably because of prey activity. Ocelots adjust their movements to probabilities of encountering local prey OR to avoid competition/predation with other cats. They need larger reserves and mechanisms to connect isolated populations (Neotropical Biology and Conservation).

What are the geographic and population changes of the ocelot?

The range and distribution of the ocelot in the U.S. has dramatically decreased in the past 2 centuries. In the late 19^th century, ocelots ranged from southeastern Arizona all the way up as far north as Fort Verde. In Mexico, they could be found in the foothills of Sierra Madre Occidental and northeastern Sonora south into north Sinaloa. Currently, they reside in extremely south Texas and south Arizona through the coastal lowlands of Mexico and Central America, Ecuador, and north Argentina. They do not occur south of the Province of Entre Rios (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

There are two populations in south Texas. One occurs on private ranches, the other can be found on Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. Both populations occupy remnant habitat fragments. There is no genetic interchange between the 2 Texas populations or between Texas and Mexico populations. As a result, the Texas populations have lost genetic diversity and have become increasingly more isolated. Arizona ocelots completely disappeared. The last one was shot legally on Pat Scott Peak in the Huachuca Mountains (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

When was the ocelot listed in the Endangered Species Act?

The ocelot was listed as "endangered" on August 22, 1990. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave it a Recovery Plan on August 26, 2010. 

Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9cBBG19lSQ for more information about ESA listing and tracking.

Why was the ocelot listed as endangered, and what are the main threats to its continued existence?

       First of all, the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the ocelot’s habitat or range is the largest cause of listing. They have had an extensive loss of habitat. 95% of thornscrub has been altered for agriculture and urban development in Rio Grande. In Cameron County, 91% of the native woodlands were lost for agricultural use in the mid-1900s. In Central America, less than half of the region retains the original forest cover (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Secondly, they are threatened by the overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific or educational purposes. There has been illegal hunting. Ocelot pelts have been heavily exploited and imported for trade. The peak was in 1970, when customs officials found 140,000 skins. Laws were placed, but they were not all universally accepted and enforced (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Disease and predation cause problems for the ocelot as well. Ocelots are bioaccumulators, so small amounts of chemicals affect them more since they are higher up on the food chain. Diseases and parasites that affect the ocelot include Notoedric mange, hepatozoon, cytauxzoon, fleas, dog ticks, and tapeworm. Typical predators of the ocelot are domestic dogs, coyotes, unknown mammals, diamondback rattlesnake, and even occasionally other ocelots (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

There is also an inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms. For example, landowners don’t have their land surveyed because they are afraid of the implications of having an endangered species on their property. This leaves ocelot habitats unprotected from development. Poverty, ineffective law enforcement, and the lack of incentives to support conservation all threaten the ocelot, especially in Central and South America. Hunting ocelots is still allowed in some countries, and the U.S. has little authority over anywhere outside their borders (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Lastly, there are other natural or anthropogenic factors affecting the ocelot’s continued existence.

 Roads: Ocelots experience collisions with motor vehicles. They are also less likely to have successful dispersal between patches in the presence of roads, which leads to more isolation. Also, they do not inhabit otherwise suitable habitats simply because of road density in the vicinity (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Border Issues: There are many border issues that affect the ocelot, including urbanization (brush gets cleared and sewage gets dumped), water development, agriculture (brush gets cleared, pesticides run off), U.S. Border Patrol Operations (lighting, maintenance, and human activity all affect them), and fencing (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

https://www.utexas.edu/law/centers/humanrights/borderwall/analysis/briefing-The-Environmental-Impacts-of-the-Border-Wall.pdf

Genetics: Populations of ocelots are small and declining. Plus, they are isolated. So, there is little genetic variation. Genetic health can be maintained by connectivity with landscape connections or translocations (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

Miscellaneous: There are other factors that affect them outside of these categories. Particularly, they have been exposed to low levels of pesticides and herbicides. Also, their prey availability has decreased, and they have to get used to the climate change as global warming becomes more and more of an issue (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

What is the ocelot's Recovery Plan?

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service experts are encouraging the assessment, protection, reconnection, and restoration of sufficient habitat to support viable populations of ocelots in the borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico. They wish to reduce human population growth and development threats to ocelot survival and mortality. Experts also want to find ways to maintain and improve genetic fitness, demographic conditions, and health. The use of adaptive management would be helpful for monitoring recovery and revising recovery tasks when new information becomes available. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs the support of international efforts to determine the status of and conserve the ocelot south of Tamaulipas and Sonora. The ultimate goal of the Recovery Plan is to recover and delist the ocelot. The intermediate goal is to downlist it from endangered to threatened. The cost of this Recovery Plan is $60,870,000 total. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that this goal could be met by 2030, but the realistic estimate is 2040. The assurance of the long-term viability of ocelot conservation can be reaffirmed through partnerships, development and application of incentives for landowners, the application of existing regulations, and public education and outreach (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

http://www.cooperativeconservationamerica.org/viewproject.asp?pid=827

Sources:

Ocelot Recovery Plan by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Ecology of the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the Atlantic Forest of Southern Brazil from Neotropical Biology and Conservation

Image Sources:

www.becuo.com

www.pinterest.com

www.wildcatconservation.org

www.ducks.org

www.q-files.com

www.images.frompo.com

www.valleymorningstar.com

www.kilshaws.com

www.wildsonora.com

www.davidmixner.com

**All videos found on YouTube.com