Social Organisation
I am immediately drawn to recalling the Big Cat Rescue video in which the presenter said that the odour of the urine sprayed by an ocelot as a form of communication is very pungent, stronger than all other wild cats, perhaps. This is because in the wet rainforests it is rapidly washed away so the starting point has to be strong. Urine is sprayed on bushes, trees etc. Other markers are uncovered feces and this is sometimes done in the same place creating a toilet like quality about the site.
Wild cat home territories follow a similar pattern. It is a male world, the cat world, in some respects. The size of the home range varies from male to female:
| Sex | Size of Home Range |
| Male | 3.5 – 46 km² |
| Female | 0.8 – 15 km² |
The way the ranges overlap or not can be presented like this:
The population densities of the ocelot are (src: Sunquists):
| Location | Density |
| Peru & Venezuela | 40 – 80 per 100 km² |
| Iguaçu National Park | 13.7 per 100 km² |
Males and females will occasionally meet notwithstanding that the ocelot is a solitary animal. In fact the rates of ocelots crossing paths is considered high.
Reproduction and Development
Ocelots give birth less frequently than most other wildcats and have smaller litter sizes. There is likely to be a two year interval between births. This is thought to be because of difficulties in finding suitable prey. The timings etc. are best set out in a table (taken from captive ocelot observation):
| Event | Time – Number etc. |
| Estrus (period of female being on heat) | 7 – 10 days |
| Pregnancy (gestation) | 79 – 82 days |
| Size of litter | 1.4 kittens (1–4) |
| Birth den | dense thicket for example. Sometimes more than one den is used |
| Weight of kitten at birth | 150 grams |
| First open eyes | 15 – 18 days of age |
| Young follow mother | 3 months of age |
| Young acquire permanent canine teeth | 8 months of age |
| Physically mature | 18 – 24 months old. At 18 months the ocelot has gained 80 – 87% of adult body weight |
| Reach full adult weight | 24 – 30 months of age |
| Adult goes in search of own territory | 2 – 3 years of age |
| Lifespan in captivity | About 20 years |
Dispersal (the highlighted area in the table) from the “natal area” (their mother’s territory) can be hazardous it seems. Studies reveal that a good percentage that go in search of their own territory are killed in various ways. The chart provides some examples (Sunquists). This is just an amlagam of various radio tagged cats to give a feel for what happens on dispersal.
The mortality rate looks high based on these radio tagged surveys. In an ocelot’s lifetime it may give birth to 5 offspring. Of these, on the basis of the high mortality rates on dispersal, only 2 may reproduce (these are not set in concrete figures).
It would seem that the “harvest” (horrible phrase) for pelts did not take this into account (does it ever?).
