Tigrillo (Leopardus pardalis)

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Photo by GustavoMorejon

Published on Project Noah

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Field Notes

Description:

This is a small Felidae from Center and South America. The pictures belong to an Amazon Tigrillo, from the locality of Tena (low Amazon basin). It is, according to The red book of the mammals of Ecuador, one of the rarest mammals in Central and South America.

Habitat:

Temperate and Tropical rainforest. It has been reported at the beginning of the last century in the high paramos of Mojanda, but their true distribution is still unknown.

Reference Links:

Oncilla

Species ID Suggestions

ocelot

Leopardus pardalis

sanmiggums

+ vote

Comments (26)

GustavoMorejon

Thanks everyone ... and yes, I think they have to be separated in two different spottings.

eleanorbidwell

That is really cool!

Maria dB

Wonderful spotting! As you saw the cats in a rescue facility, you could add this spotting to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehab mission: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/9974629 I can't tell from these photos if they are different species but some of the differences are: the oncilla has a narrower muzzle than an ocelot, it is smaller and more slender, the fur doesn't turn forward in the nape region as it does in the ocelot

Gilma Jeannette Ospino Ferreira-Norman

I just love that picture, like we call them in Costa Rica... "El tigre" very much different than the Ocelot that is gorgeous also. Are they in the endangered species?

AshleyT

I agree with Livan as to the first picture looking like an Ocelot and the second looking like Oncilla. The facial markings are making me think that, but I am also by no means an expert either! Beautiful cats and picture though :)

batex

So cute! And fierce... "Rawr!" Right back at you!

GustavoMorejon

Thank you LivanEscudero, I will try to do my best and share it with Noah !!!

GustavoMorejon

Thanks Reza Hashemizadeh, Carol Snow Milne, Adrián Encontrado and Braulio Alejandro Rivas Tapia, I am glad you liked the pictures.

LivanEscudero

Wow Gustavo fascinating. Looking forward to some more Amazon spottings. By the way the pictures I directed you to, I just found those websites. Those pictures, yes, they are fantastic, but I didn't take them. I don't want to take any credit for them. Safe travels.

GustavoMorejon

LivanEscudero, fantastic pictures !!! I hope I can take more pictures of the cats in 2 weeks from now. I will go to the Sumaco national Park in the Amazon, and will stay with the Kichua tribe for 3 days !!!

Adrián Encontrado

love it

GustavoMorejon

Unfortunately, I am not close to the rescue center. I am 12 hours from the rescue center now. But next time I go there, I will try to take more pictures.

Braulio Rivas Tapia

Terrifing series!

LivanEscudero

Gustavo I'm by no means an expert or anything close. But to me they do look different. Are you still in the area? Can you visit them again? Maybe knowing all this you can look at them with fresh eyes and be able to tell. If at all possible some full body shots with background for scale may help a lot. Also apparently the length of the tail compared to the hind leg is telling. By the way these are two beautiful pictures of whatever species of cat they are. You see those 2 very thick black lines on the face an eye of pic 1 look very Ocelot to me. compare to this one: http://brendin12.edublogs.org/2011/04/18/ocelot/ Pic 2 has thin down curving line that stops from the eye and no second cheek line just a blotch and it has more of a house cat looking face, I think. see some Oncilla pics here: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/leopardus%20tigrinus

LivanEscudero

Also very hard to judge their sizes from these pictures. With Ocelot the larger, then Margay, and Oncilla the smalest.

GustavoMorejon

Hello LivanEscudero. The pictures are not of the same individual, but according to the rescue center owner, they were rescued in the same place at the same time. Do you think they belong to different species ???

LivanEscudero

The Ocelot (L. pardalis) and the Oncilla or Tigrillo (L. tigrinus) are close relatives. (Also the Margay - L. wiedii) They all kind of look the same. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060923083900AAN6ywv http://www.ecology.info/ecology-ocelot-margay.htm Now are we 100% these 2 pictures are of the same individual. Because to me pic 1 looks more like an Ocelot face and thick eye markings; but the second looks to have a different proportion to its face and the markings look different. I think the 2nd is a Tigrillo and the 1st an Ocelot.

Carol Snow Milne

WOW! So beautiful! Great photos!

GustavoMorejon

Still lost ... Can anyone tell me a morphological difference that can lead me to a correct identification of it ???

Reza Hashemizadeh

What an awesome spotting of my favorite animal....Thank you for sharing !

sanmiggums

they look the the same but are very different

sanmiggums

the difference between them is that this is a ocelot and leopardus tigrinus is Oncilla

GustavoMorejon

Hello sanmiggums. Can you please tell me what is the difference between Leopardus pardalis and Leopardus tigrinus ? I am a kind of lost in here.