The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches 40–50 cm (16–20 in) at the shoulders and weighs between 7 and 15.5 kg (15 and 34 lb) on average.

It is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Margarita.

[6] Other vernacular names for the ocelot include cunaguaro (Venezuela), gato onza (Argentina), gato tigre (Panama), heitigrikati (Suriname), jaguatirica, maracaja (Brazil), manigordo (Costa Rica, Panama and Venezuela), mathuntori, ocelote, onsa, pumillo, tiger cat (Belize), tigrecillo (Bolivia) and tigrillo (Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru).

[8] The genus Leopardus was proposed by John Edward Gray in 1842 for several spotted cat skins in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.

[10] In 1941, Pocock reviewed dozens of ocelot skins in the collection of the Natural History Museum and regrouped them to nine different subspecies, also based on their colors and spots.

[25] A 2010 study of morphological features noted significant differences in the size and color of the Central and South American populations, suggesting they could be separate species.

These two taxa differ in morphological features and are geographically separated by the Andes:[28] Results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the Leopardus lineage genetically diverged from the Felidae around 8 million years ago (mya).

The relationships of the ocelot within the Felidae is considered as follows:[29][30] Serval (Leptailurus serval) Caracal (C. caracal) African golden cat (C. aurata) Ocelot (L. pardalis) Margay (L. wieldii) Andean mountain cat (L. jacobita) Pampas cat (L. colocolo) Geoffroy's cat (L. geoffroyi) Kodkod (L. guigna) Oncilla (L. tigrinus) Bobcat (L. rufus) Canada lynx (L. canadensis) Eurasian lynx (L. lynx) Iberian lynx (L. pardinus) Cougar (P. concolor) The ocelot's fur is extensively marked with solid black markings on a creamy, tawny, yellowish, reddish gray or gray background color.

The spots on the head and limbs are small, but markings on the back, cheeks, and flanks are open or closed bands and stripes.

Though all three have rosettes on their coats, the ocelot typically has a more blotched pattern; the oncilla has dark spots on its underbelly unlike the other two.

Radio collared individuals in the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Peru rested during the day and became active earliest in the late afternoon; they moved between 3.2 and 17 hours until dawn and then returned to their dens.

[57] Studies have found that adult ocelots are vulnerable to predation by both cougars and jaguars, with decreasing water sources in Guatemala causing predatory encounters with the latter.

As a carnivore, it preys on small terrestrial mammals such as rodents, lagomorphs, armadillos, opossums, also fish, crustaceans, insects, reptiles and birds.

It typically preys on animals that weigh less than 1 kg (2.2 lb), but rarely targets large ungulates such as deer, sheep and peccaries, as well as anteaters, New World monkeys and iguanas.

[6] Primates prevail in the diet of ocelots in southeastern Brazil[60] and iguanas in a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico.

[6][36] The kitten is born with spots and stripes, though on a gray background; the color changes to golden as the ocelot grows older.

[1] In Texas, the fertile land that supports dense cover and constitutes the optimum habitat for the ocelot is being lost to agriculture.

Traffic accidents have emerged as a major threat over the years, as ocelots try to expand beyond their natural habitat to new areas and get hit by vehicles.

[6] Another threat has been the international pet trade; this typically involves capturing ocelot kittens by killing their mothers; these cats are then sold to tourists.

Though it is banned in several countries, pet trade survives; in some areas of Central and South America, ocelots are still sold in a few local markets.

[73] It has been recorded in oil palm landscapes and big cattle ranches in the Colombian Llanos and inter-Andean valleys.

Representations of ocelots appear in every artistic medium, from Moche ceramics to murals, architectural details, and landscape features.

Ocelot bones were made into thin, pointed instruments to pierce ears and limbs for ritual bloodletting.

In her 1904 work A Penitential Rite of the Ancient Mexicans, archaeologist Zelia Nuttall described a statue depicting an ocelot or another felid excavated in Mexico City and its relation to the Aztec deity Tezcatlipoca.

Besides this the personage wears leggings made of the spotted ocelot skin and a rattlesnake girdle from which hang two conventionalized hearts.

It is interesting to find that in a note written beneath its photograph the late Senor Islas de Bustamante, independently identified the above figure as a representation of "Ocelotl-Tezcatlipoca" or Tlatoca-ocelot, lit.

[83] Painter Salvador Dalí kept a pet ocelot named Babou that was seen with him at many places he visited, including a voyage aboard SS France.

When one of the diners at a New York restaurant was alarmed by his ocelot, Dali told her that it was a common domestic cat that he had "painted over in an op art design".