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Small cat regularly caught in the camera traps at Santa Lucia, Pichincha, Ecuador. Markings are similar to ocelot or margay but the size is more representative of an oncilla. Could it be a hybrid? Regularly seen...
Santa Lucia Cloud Forest Reserve.
22 Comments
Got a jaguarundi on the cameras. With the Puma and these 'oncila' we've got three cats at the reserve. Jaguarundi pictures are on the way.
It would be good. It's something our resident field biologist is looking into at the moment...funding permitting. Wild hybrids would make a wonderful study.
I would have to agree with the Oncila conclusion. They are a bit smaller, but that maybe a genetic trait found locally in and around the reserve. The ears, and markings along with the size comparison to the others seems to give them away.
Here is a link I found, not a ton of information however the picture gives a clear example. http://www.agarman.dial.pipex.com/tigcat... :-D I would be interested to see if there has been any research on hybrids in the wild... I have been looking and do not see anything posted. Would make another neat side bar at some point if it could be proven.
Ha! Yes, you're probably right! These are just a selection though. We get shots every week, these were just the first ones on file, but yes, you rumbled us; the date-stamps kind of give the game away...
Need to edit to spotting date as September 16th..right... when you took first pictures...!!
Well, Matt's looking into it and sharing the photos with a couple of reserves nearby. We'll get back to you...
True. The above are mostly examples of hybrids born in captivity.
Emma! Very interesting to read that link. It's unlikely, but possible. Good to know.
A Marlot? That very interesting and would explain why we've been having trouble. We're hoping to extend our current camera trapping to include more arboreal cameras. If we could catch one up a tree...
These cats are a bit smaller than an ocelot. But we're not ruling anything out! It's a nice mystery. Thanks for the help though-we really do follow it up!
http://www.messybeast.com/genetics/hyb-o...
Here is another link about hybrids between the 3 cats.
Hybrids have such a variation that they cannot be distuinguished from visible patterns .
But looking at the image in this link , My best guess is that this is a "Marlot"
Good Stuff Emma. We'll definately take a look at that. So a hybrid IS a possibilty....
I just discovered that I made a big mistake: What we call in Brazil Jaguatirica is, actually, the ocelote. Oncilla is called, here, gato-do-mato (wildcat). This is amaller the ocelote, and has a defferent patern colour. So I change my guess to ocelote, but I am still puzzled by their apparent youngness.
The Marlot is a hybrid between a male Margay and female ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). In May 1977, the Long Island Ocelot Club (LIOC) announced the birth of a marlot bred by Barbara Brocks using captive-bred parents. There was no description of the marlot, but the parent species both have a rosetted or marbled pattern on a sandy background.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felid_hybri...
This link has various combinations and Hybrids.
Hope this helps.
Great spotting!
The following are the currently recognized subspecies:
Leopardus tigrinus tigrinus, eastern Venezuela, Guyana, northeastern Brazil
Leopardus tigrinus guttulus, central and southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, northern Argentina
Leopardus tigrinus oncilla, Central America
Leopardus tigrinus pardinoides, western Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador
(From Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncilla
I've just put a shot of one during the day. Not a great shot but might be helpful?
We've got pictures of them all year round, always the same size, always with the same markings. I'll pop another couple of shots up...
Hey there asergio . It's a nice idea, but we keep caputring shots of them all over the reserve, so unless they're all juveniles then they must be something else? The marking always look similar.
I think it is a juvenile oncilla (Jaguatirica, in Brazil). Not very young, but still not fully developed.
Anyone got any other suggestions about our cats?
Thanks Peter. It's definitely going to be an effort to absolutely identify these cats. We're hoping to eventually be able to identify individuals. We sometimes catch two together if that muddies the water at all...
Ocelots and Oncillas mostly pursue prey on the ground, whereas the Margay may spend most of its life in the trees. The Oncilla is the smallest of the three wildcats and the Margay is the most similar to the Ocelot in appearance. The markings of Margays and Ocelots are very alike whereas the Oncilla has different patterning.
They are definitely similar in behavior in that they are mostly solitary, nocturnal wildcats that have a carnivorous diet. You're right that they are similar in appearance, in fact the Margay is sometimes called a Tree Ocelot. It can be a fun challenge telling them apart.