Cats of the Rainforest

There are many different felines living throughout the rainforest. Some of them only venture out of hiding to hunt during the night, others stalk prey through the day and sleep through the night. The jaguar on the left is just one of the many large cats that roam the rainforest. The jaguar is one of the largest cats of the rainforest and can be identified by yellowish orange coat and its black spots filled with black rosettes. The Jaguar hunts throughout the day and will eat almost everything it can catch including monkeys, peccaries, tapirs, fish, which it will scoop out of the water with its paw while sitting on a branch over the water, and they will even attack sleeping alligators. The number of jaguars in the world has been greatly reduced mostly because of the destruction of their habitat for human settlement, the value of their pelts in the fur trade and hunting by ranchers to protect their cattle. Presently they are classified as vulnerable and endangered.

The Margay is a nocturnal cat that spends most of its life in the canopy of the rainforest. It is well adapted for life high in the trees with an ability to climb headfirst down them. The margay feeds on the rats, squirrels, opossums, monkeys and birds that live in the canopy.

The margay is an endangered species mostly because they do not adapt well to human disturbance of their habitat.

The Ocelot is a nocturnal cat of the rainforest that spends almost all of its time on the forest floor. It spends most of its nights roaming the forest along open trails searching for prey and its day sleeping in dense brush. The ocelot is not as reclusive as the margay and is seen more often in the rainforest. Ocelots feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles and insects.

Ocelots have been hunted almost to extinction for their beautiful coats.

Other Interesting Web sites on Cats of the Rainforest

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