Ocelots return home to Texas Zoo

Status: Endangered

Name: Comes from the Mexican Aztec word tlalocelot, which means field tiger

Nicknames: Also known as dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat

Distribution: South Texas, Mexico, Central and South America

Habitat: Humid tropical forests to arid desert habitats

Diet: Rodents, rabbits, young deer, monkeys, javelin, birds, snakes and fish

Length: 48 to 64 inches

Weight: 11.3-15.8 kg The ocelot is considered to be a medium-sized cat.

Longevity: 7-10 years in the wild; 20 years in zoos

Behavior: During the day, ocelots sleep on a branch, in a hollow tree, or in dense vegetation. They are more social than other wild small cats. It hunts at night and swims well. Ocelots can travel 1-5 miles in one night.

Did you know: Ocelots once lives as far east as Louisiana, but their habitat has been reduced by agriculture. Today, only about 100 ocelots live in South Texas. Ocelot populations remain high in Central and South America.

SOURCES: thejunglestore.com/Ocelots

switcheroozoo.com/profiles/ocelot.htm

The ocelots return home to the Texas Zoo may not have been as elaborate of a welcome as when Simba from Disney's "The Lion King" returned home to Pride Rock, but it was nonetheless monumental.

Born at the Texas Zoo, the now 6-year-old brother and sister ocelot pair, named Bonnie and Clyde, were lent out to the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, Mass. as 10-month-old kittens in November 2005.

They returned to the Texas Zoo on May 11.

"We wanted to have ocelots on exhibit because they are a native Texas animal," said Andrea Blomberg, executive director of the Texas Zoo. "We wanted to bring them home."

Blomberg, who was not employed at the zoo when Bonnie and Clyde left, said the pair was lent out because the Texas Zoo already had two ocelots, Bonnie and Clyde's parents, so there was no need for two more.

"The worse thing is to be a collector of species, just holding animals on the grounds," said Blomberg. "You don't bring in more animals if you don't have the space."

But not long after Bonnie and Clyde were sent away, the zoo became ocelot-less when both of its ocelots were sent off to other zoos as part of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan Program.

The program seeks to manage, breed and conserve animals that are threatened or endangered like the ocelots, who have been on the Texas Endangered Species list since 1972.

[For Sale] Ocelot fur coat

We don't encourage or support the sales of furs that fall under the CITES legislation (CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Neither do we offer any professional advice on either the actual legal situation or on how to sell or buy such a fur. Furs falling under the CITES convention may be e.g. ocelot, leopard or others. Whereas fur coats of such nature which were crafted and sold before July 1st 1975 may not fall under CITES, we would also like to include them in this statement of ours. This refers to furs you either bought, intend to buy, sold, intend to sell or inherited or obtained otherwise.

Developer's guide to endangered species regulation

Endangered and threatened animals of Texas, their life history and management

Rare, Portraits of America's Endangered Species

A field guide to Rocky Mountain and southwest forests

Ocelots