Ocelot is an abbreviation of _tlalocelotl_, the name of this animal
in Mexico, its native country. It is ferocious and carnivorous, and
may be ranked with the jaguar and cougar, for it is very nearly the
same size, and resembles them in figure and dispositions. A male and
female were shewn at the fair of St. Ovide, in September 1764. They
came from the neighbourhood of Carthagena, and had been taken from
their mother in the month of October, 1763. They became so strong and
cruel at the age of three months as to kill and eat the bitch which had
nursed them. When we saw them, at a year old, they were about two feet
long, and they had then, probably, not attained more than one half, or
two-thirds, of their growth. These animals were shewn by the name of
the _tiger-cat_, but we have rejected this denomination as precarious
and confused, especially as the jaguar, serval, and the margay, or
Cayenne cat, were sent to us under the same denomination, although
those three animals are very different from each other, as well as from
the one we are at present treating of.
The first author who mentions this animal in a distinct manner is
Fabri. He caused Recchi's designs of it to be engraven, and composed
his description from them. He gives also a kind of history of him from
the writings and information of Gregoire de Bolivar. I made these
observations with a view to throw light on the circumstance which had
led all the naturalists into an error, and by which I acknowledge I was
also deceived. This circumstance is to know whether the two animals
designed by Recchi, the first by the name of _tlatlauhquiocelotl_ and
the second by that of _tlacoozlotl_, _tlalocelotl_, and afterwards
described by Fabri as different species, are not the same animal. They
were considered as distinct animals, notwithstanding the resemblance
of their figures, because their names, and even descriptions, were
different. I then supposed the first might be the same as the jaguar,
and therefore gave him the Mexican name of _tlatlauhquiocelotl_, which
I am now convinced does not belong to him; and since I have seen both
the male and female, I am persuaded, that the two described by Fabri,
are only the same animal, of which the first is the male, and the
second the female. This error could only have been discovered by such a
chance as we had of examining both the male and the female together. Of
all animals whose skins are spotted, the robe of the male ocelot (_fig.
180._) is certainly the most beautiful, and most elegantly varied. Even
the skin of the leopard does not come near it for the liveliness of its
colours, and the regularity of its marks; and far less those of the
jaguar, panther, and ounce. The colours of the female ocelot are much
weaker, and the design less regular; and this apparent difference it
was that deceived Recchi, Fabri, and others, and was the occasion of
their considering them as different species.
When the ocelot has arrived at its full growth, he is, according to
Bolivar, two feet and a half high, and about four feet long. The tail,
though of a good length, does not touch the ground when hanging down,
and consequently is not more than two feet long. This animal is very
voracious, but at the same time exceedingly timid. He seldom attacks
the human species, and is terrified at the sight of a dog. When
pursued, he flies to the forests, and climbs up a tree for safety,
where he also sleeps and watches for small animals, on which he
springs when he sees them within his reach. He prefers blood to flesh,
and for this reason he destroys a great number of animals; for instead
of satisfying his hunger by devouring their flesh, he only quenches his
thirst by sucking their blood.
In a state of captivity he preserves his savage nature: nothing can
soften his ferocious disposition, nor calm his restless motion, which
makes it necessary to confine him constantly in a cage. "After these
young animals (says M. de l'Escot) had devoured their nurse, I confined
them in a cage, and had them fed with fresh meat, of which they eat
from seven to eight pounds a day. The male had a singular superiority
over the female, for however hungry the latter might be, she never
touched any of the food until he was satisfied, or such pieces as he
gave her, having previously rejected them. I several times gave them a
live cat, whose blood they sucked until the animal died, but they never
eat any of their flesh. I put two live kids on board the vessel for
their subsistence, for they neither eat, nor touched boiled nor salted
meat."
From the testimony of Gregoire de Bolivar, these animals commonly
produce but two young ones at a birth, which M. de l'Escot seems to
confirm, by saying, he had killed the mother before the two ocelots we
have been speaking of, were taken away.