Ocelot is an unusual and poorly studied predator of the cat family. The homeland of these beautiful animals is North America and the Latin American islands. The wool at the ocelot is golden with dark spots of various sizes and shapes. The figure can be in the form of points, divorces and spots that merge on the shoulders and neck into strips. Ears are black, there are large white dots behind the ears. Chin and abdomen are white with stripes and dots of black color.
Ocelots live in the rainforests. They avoid open spaces and hide in dense thickets. Activity manifests in the dark, and in the daytime ocelots rest in thickets, on branches and in hollows of trees. Ocelots do not tolerate their own, so the boundaries of their territory are marked with urine, which allows them to avoid unnecessary conflicts. They allow only females to enter their territory.
Live and hunt these representatives of the cat alone. They feed on birds, frogs, snakes, rabbits and rodents. And large males are able to attack small pigs. The teeth are designed to rip the prey, not for chewing, so the ocelots swallow the pieces whole. To victims, ocelots are hunted at night, attacking them from reliable shelters. In hunting, they are helped by an acute sense of smell, excellent eyesight and good hearing.
Ocelots mate at any time of the year. Pregnancy lasts 70 days, after which the female gives birth to 1-2 toddlers, in rare cases there may be 3-4 kittens. The mother feeds the cubs with milk for 2 months, and they start an independent life only in 2 years.
The ocelot’s fur is very beautiful, so it until recently was very popular and expensive, in connection with which these predators were actively hunting. This led to the fact that today ocelots are a rare species, which is threatened with extinction. Because of the fashion, these wild animals came to the pages of the Red Book.
Today hunting for ocelots is prohibited, and the sale of products from their fur is illegal. In America, reserves have been set up so that ocelots can live in them. But nevertheless poachers continue to hunt for ocelots and sell their fur on the black market for a lot of money.
Before deciding on such an exotic pet, you need to weigh all the points “for” and “against.” When keeping wild cats, one must adhere to certain rules. You can buy an ocelot only in a specialized nursery, and not with second-hand dealers and poachers. An animal must have documents.
The baby is immediately excommunicated from the mother, it should be fed by a person, so that the kitten was with the owner in constant contact, otherwise it will remain wild, and all his inclinations that are necessary for him in nature will be preserved.
The whole must have enough free space on which he can play and relax. The best solution will be the aviary. In the enclosure make buildings that imitate wildlife. It is desirable that in the aviary there was an artificial pond, since ocelots like to swim.
They bring up these wild cats with games and caress. Ocelot constantly has to communicate with the owner and people so that he is not wild. The most famous ocelot was a pet Salvador Dali, whose name was Baba. Extravagant artist did not part with his pet and took him on all trips. His home “savage” even made several trips on a sea liner.
