Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Known for their beautiful coats and endangered status, ocelots are very interesting animals. They are classified as Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Carivora, Family Felidae, Subfamily Falinae, Genus Leopardus, and Species Leopardus Pardalis. They were very difficult to research as there are few programs in the United States that are studying them as a species. 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 c