Wild Cats of the World

IUCN RED LIST (2008): Near Threatened

Head-body length ♀ 47.7−62cm, ♂ 49−79.2cm

Tail 30−52cm

Weight ♀ 2.3−3.5kg, ♂ 2.3−4.9kg

The Margay is classified in the Leopardus genus (and lineage of the same name), and is most closely related to the Ocelot. The species shows high genetic heterogeneity, with three distinct population clusters: northern South America and southern South America, divided by the Amazon River, and Mesoamerica with weak genetic differences in a cline from Mexico to Panama. This would suggest three subspecies, although up to 10 are currently described; most are probably invalid.

The Margay is the size of a lean domestic cat, with a slender, lightly built body and a very long, thickly furred tail with a tubular appearance. The front paws

are hefty with very large, splayed digits. The head is compact and rounded with large ears and distinctive, very large eyes. Body fur is dense and soft, ranging in background colour through shades of greyish-buff, ochre, tawny and cinnamon-brown graduating to cream or white underparts. The Margay is richly marked with large, dark rosettes and blotches that usually coalesce into long stripes on the head, nape and back.

Similar species The Margay is easily confused with the Ocelot and oncillas; young kittens of all these species can be very difficult to tell apart. The Margay is significantly smaller than the Ocelot, though the two species overlap in weight at their respective extremes, and Margays are generally larger and more richly marked than oncillas. The Margay’s most distinctive features are its very large eyes, proportionally very long tail and oversized front paws.

The Margay occurs from Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, northern Mexico, throughout Central and South America to northern Argentina, eastern Paraguay and north-west Uruguay. One specimen collected along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, around 1850, is the only US record, possibly a pet or released individual given that the arid habitat is very atypical for the species. Margays are forest-dependent, and are more closely associated with forest habitats than any other neotropical cat. However, within that specialisation, they are able to occupy all kinds of evergreen and deciduous forests, from lowland tropical forest to montane cloud forests, from sea level typically to 1,500m, and exceptionally to 3,000m in the Andes. They occur in forested enclaves and gallery forest in dry forest-savanna mosaics, for example in Brazilian caatinga semi-arid thorny savanna and dry Uruguayan savanna. They also occupy secondary forest, forest-plantation mosaics and forest patches in highly disturbed landscapes. They tolerate converted landscapes provided these are densely vegetated, such as plantations of coffee, cocoa, eucalyptus and pine, but they cannot inhabit open agriculture including sugarcane, soy and pasture.

The Margay is a spectacularly acrobatic climber and is possibly the most arboreal of all felids with several anatomical adaptations for arborealism. The broad feet have very mobile digits with long, loosely knit metatarsals and enlarged claws, the hind ankles can rotate inwards through 180°, and the highly elongated, muscular tail assists with balance. They can descend head-first down trees, hang upside down by the hindfeet while handling objects with the forepaws, and scurry rapidly upside down along branches, all of which can be executed at high speed. Dietary records and direct observations are limited but they provide ample evidence of arboreal hunting including of very agile species such as small primates; however, most prey is terrestrial and Margays forage predominantly on the ground. Most prey weighs less than 200g. Typical prey includes small rodents such as Slender Harvest Mice, spiny pocket mice, Short-tailed Cane Mice, Big-eared Climbing Rats, tree squirrels, as well as shrews and small marsupials such as mouse opossums. Larger prey includes Southern Opossums, cavies, agoutis, pacas and Brazilian Rabbits. Widespread reference to sloths, capuchins and tree porcupines as prey stems from a misidentified Ocelot; these species, especially juveniles, may be vulnerable to Margays though there is little evidence. A Margay in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, was disturbed feeding on a Mexican Tree Porcupine carcass, which it may have killed. Margays hunt tamarins and marmosets; captive individuals caught Red-handed Tamarins in semi-natural conditions, and a wild Margay was observed unsuccessfully hunting Pied Tamarins in Amazonia, Brazil. Local people there believe that Margays imitate the vocalisations of juvenile tamarins to attract adults, apparently confirmed by one recent scientific report, though its validity is questionable (local people also report Jaguars, Pumas and Ocelots imitating the calls of prey for which there is no evidence). Other common prey includes small passerine birds, cracids (guans and chachalacas), lizards and frogs. A female Margay and her two kittens opportunistically raided bats captured in mist nets during survey work in Brazilian Atlantic Forest fragments, suggesting that bats are considered prey. Invertebrates are often consumed, though probably contribute little to intake, and fruit appears quite often in scat samples, possibly the stomach or crop contents of frugivorous prey. Captive Margays are said to readily eat figs. They kill domestic poultry, though depredation is limited to settlements near dense vegetation.

Margays forage mainly at night with peak activity around 21:00−05:00, though a single radio-collared male in Brazil showed cathemeral patterns. Margays are equally at home on the ground or in trees, but two radio-collared individuals (a female in Brazil and a male in Belize) both moved mainly on the ground, presumably locating both terrestrial and arboreal prey, and rested during the day in trees. Few hunts have been observed. In Uruguay, a Margay on the ground leapt 2m vertically to catch a perched guan, and a Margay in Brazilian Atlantic Forest spent 20 minutes unsuccessfully pursuing a bird in a bamboo stand to heights of 6m.

The Margay’s very large eyes are distinctive, occupying a much greater proportion of the face than the similar Ocelot with which is it often confused (compare with the photo here). Additionally, Margay eyes are typically a few shades darker than the Ocelot’s.

Margays are able to move rapidly along flexible vines and lianas including even the narrowest spans which they navigate by essentially running upside down at high speeds.

There are very few direct observations of reproductive behaviour in wild Margays. Given the extent of the Margay’s arborealism, it is entirely possible that courtship and mating behaviour occurs above ground in the canopy (C).

Margays are poorly studied, with a handful of animals radio-collared in Belize, Brazil and Mexico. Margays are solitary and demarcate home ranges with characteristic felid marking behaviour. Range size for males is 1.2−6km² (El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Mexico), 11km² (one subadult male, Belize) and 15.9km² (one subadult male, Brazil). Small range sizes at El Cielo may represent optimum conditions with its high-quality habitat, no large carnivores and good protection. Very few range estimates exist for females; one collared Brazilian female in a fragmented subtropical forest-agricultural mosaic used 20km². Range overlap between four radio-collared males in El Cielo was considerable, and the degree to which Margays defend ranges is unclear. Margays are capable of covering large distances rapidly. A subadult Belizean male (possibly dispersing) travelled up to 1.2km per hour and covered an average of 6.7km per day. He rested always above ground, 7−10m high in vine or liana tangles or in the boles of Cohune Palms, and moved every two to three hours during the day between rest sites, travelling on the ground. Based on camera-trapping, Margays occur at lower densities than Ocelots but there are few rigorous estimates; 12.1 individuals per 100km² was estimated for protected montane, pine-oak forest in central Mexico where Ocelots, Pumas and Jaguars are present (La Reserva Natural Sierra Nanchititla).

Unknown from the wild. In captivity, the Margay has surprisingly low reproductive rates relative to its size, with protracted gestation and small litters. Reproduction is aseasonal. Gestation is 76−84 days. Unusually, female Margays have only one pair of teats and litter size is usually one kitten (very rarely two). Weaning occurs at around eight weeks, and female sexual maturity is 6–10 months but first litters in the wild are likely to be at two to three years.

Pairs of kittens are exceptional for Margays, with single births being most common. The pattern is also true for other members of the Leopardus lineage, particularly the Ocelot and oncillas.

STATUS AND THREATS

The Margay is strongly forest dependent. Although the species is sometimes recorded from highly disturbed habitat, including forest-agriculture mosaics in Brazil, it is thought to adapt poorly to forest conversion and fragmentation, which are the main threats. Outside extensive forest blocks, such as in the Amazon Basin, Margay populations are regarded as fragmented and declining in many areas. The species has surprisingly low reproductive potential which limits its ability to recover rapidly from declines or to recolonise former habitat. Additionally, its numbers are thought to be significantly influenced by the larger and much more adaptable Ocelot. The Margay was heavily hunted at the height of the fashion for spotted cat fur, with a minimum number of 125,547 skins legally exported from 1976 to 1985. Fortunately, all international trade in Margay fur is now illegal, though they are sometimes illegally hunted for domestic use. Persecution for killing poultry occurs, and kittens are sometimes captured as pets. Illegal trade and killing are likely to have significant effects on Margay populations in areas where there is already pressure on habitat. CITES Appendix I. Red List: Near Threatened. Population trend: Decreasing.