They live in a large range of land from Southern Texas and Mexico, to Central and South America. Basically from the extreme United States, to Argentina. In Texas, however, they only live in small areas of protected land. They have been documented to live in tropical and subtropical forests (usually very dense), grassy planes, savannahs, arid scrub lands with a great deal of cover, and coastal mangrove and swamp forests. Their crucial habitat component is dense cover, and for the most part they completely avoid open country. They can generally tolerate human disturbance, and can co-exist with them if not victimized. Ocelot males confine themselves to a range of about 18 square kilometers, while females inhabit smaller areas of about 11 square kilometers. A male’s home range will usually partly cover that of several females.

Ocelots have extremely beautiful fur and are killed carelessly for the fur trade. Their coat is short, soft, and marked with both black spots and rosettes. The base color ranges from tawny to reddish brown. Their ventral surfaces are usually lighter or even white in color. They tend to have a single, white spot on the back of each ear and some white markings around each of their eyes and mouth. They have two black lines of fur that go down the length of either side of their face, and their tail is marked with black bands similar to that of a raccoon. Males are slightly larger than females, averaging their weight at about 10- 11.5 kilograms. Females are about 8.8- 9.4 kilograms. Head and body length ranges from 550 to 1000 millimeters, and the tail length ranges from 300 to 450 millimeters.

Ocelots have many special adaptations. For instance they have an extraordinary sense of vision in low lights, and very keen senses of smell and hearing. This is probably why they are nocturnal hunters. Also their thin body allows them to capture prey in the thickest thorn bushes.

In Texas Ocelots usually breed during the fall, but in the other regions they mate year round. The minimum breeding age for females is eight

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