An Ocelot Can't Change its Spots Either Quiz

Answer: South America

The main habitat of the ocelot is the northern half of South America, including northern Brazil as well as most of Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela. It can also be found in most Central American countries.

Answer: Texas

Southern Texas marks the northernmost natural range of the ocelot which can also be found along most of the Mexican east coast. However, the population in the United States is dwindling with the estimated remaining number being less than one hundred. The main threat to these cats in the United States is car accidents.

Answer: Twilight and nights

Ocelots are both nocturnal (active at night) and crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) but tend to rest during the day. Their activity peak depends somewhat on where they live. If they are subject to danger from larger predators while hunting, they prefer the darker hours while in the absence of such danger, they are more active around dawn and dusk. If you want to watch ocelots, you should thus get up early or stay up late.

Answer: Much improved: It is now "Least Concern".

Thanks to conservation efforts and the declining popularity of fur clothing, the ocelot population in the wild has greatly recovered. The total population is estimated at around 50,000 with most of them concentrated in the Amazonas basin.

Answer: Dwarf leopard

In spite of the name, the ocelot is actually not a close relative of the leopard. It belongs to the Felinae, the subfamily containing the smaller and medium-sized cats (along with the cheetah) while the leopard is a member of the pantherinae.

Answer: Leopardus pardalis

The Leopardus genus encompasses many of the spotted small cats, but not the actual leopard (Panthera pardus). All Leopardus species live in South and Central America. The caracal (Carcal aurata) and Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) are both also felinae while Tigris maculosa ("spotted tiger") was a complete invention by yours truly.

Answer: 80 cm long, 12 kg

The wrong answers are all typical measurements for different cat species: The 40 cm is a domestic cat, the pretty sturdy 1.1m one is a Eurasian lynx and the 1.5m is a jaguar.

Answer: Civet

The Colocolo, Margay and Oncilla are all members of the Leopardus genus as well and share the ocelot's South American habitat. The civet however is not a cat but rather a viverrid living in Asia and Africa. While cousins to the cats and members of the suborder feliformia, civets are not true cats.

To complete the feline confusion, the name "civet cat" is not only used for the actual civet, but also occasionally for the leopard cat and the African wildcat, both true cats but not members of the Leopardus genus.

Answer: 1 to 3 kittens

Ocelots have relatively small litter sizes for small cats, bearing only one to three young at a time. An ocelot pregnancy lasts for about two and a half months and the young stay with their mothers for up to two years, so a mother may be caring for several litters at varying stages of maturity at the same time.

Answer: They are good swimmers, hunting on land and in water

Ocelots are effective hunters in many different environments, preying on nearly all types of small mammal. Their diet includes rodents, armadillos, reptiles, birds and fish. They supplement their diet with insects as well. As accomplished fishers, they can both wade and swim well and hunt while doing either.