Fun Facts:

• Ocelot ankles rotate to climb down head first • Tail is half the length of the body, which is very long! • They have two types of teeth: pointed teeth or biting and blade- like teeth for tearing food. They do not have molars like us to chew food so they have to swallow the chunks • They are cats, so they have a rough tongue. Theirs are a bit rougher than your average housecat though. This is so they can lick bones clean of all the meat • They use their sense of sight and hearing to capture prey as they operate at night time • They are on the smaller side in cat world – only about 2x the size of an average house cat (or the same size as my very very large housecat! Ha! - so larger cats like pumas will eat them along with anacondas and birds of prey like eagles) • So sleek and sneaky! Ocelots are awake at night, but primarily dusk and dawn and are very secretive. They can survive in a vast terrain, but need something with vegetation cover with lots of places to hide. • Able to catch prey in trees and on the ground

• Ocelots prey mainly on small rodents, but are also known to eat birds, snakes, iguanas and other lizards, baby peccaries, young deer, rabbits, and even fish and crabs • If they have a pet cat, that would be a good thing to compare to the Ocelot. What is the same? / What is different? Do they notice the whiskers, paws, or the way the cat moves as similarities? • Ocelots have similar body language as housecats. How can you tell when your cat at home is excited, unsure or agitated? What does your cat at home do to get your attention? • As nocturnal predators, they rely heavily on their eyesight. In fact, they can see SO well that it is easier for an ocelot to walk around at night than it is for you to walk around during the day.

Conservation Information:

Ocelots have almost been hunted to extinction due to their beautiful fur. Even though laws are in place to stop poaching, habitat destruction continues to affect them. Buying recycled or sustainably sourced paper and shade-grown coffee can help preserve the forests.

There is a small population of ocelots that are in Texas, making it a native species to the United States! Learn more about what Cincinnati Zoo is doing to help them.