The oncilla resembles the margay (L. wiedii) and the ocelot (L. pardalis),[3] but it is smaller, with a slender build and narrower muzzle.

[4] While this is somewhat longer than the average domestic cat, the oncilla is generally lighter, weighing 1.5 to 3 kg (3.3 to 6.6 lb).

[4] The oncilla is distributed from a disjunct population in Costa Rica and Panama, and throughout the Amazon basin to central Brazil.

[7] In Colombia, it was recorded in the Cordillera Occidental at elevations of 1,900 to 4,800 m (6,200 to 15,700 ft) in Los Nevados National Natural Park,[8] and in Antioquia Department.

It is an obligate carnivore that hunts rodents, lizards, birds, eggs, invertebrates, and occasionally also tree frogs.

[10] Most oncillas are nocturnal, but in the Brazilian Caatinga – where diurnal lizards are their main food source – they are active during daylight.

Young oncillas have been observed to purr; adults are known to make short, gurgling calls when close to one another.

[13] A zone of hybridization between the oncilla and the colocolo (Pampas cat) has been found through genetic analyses of specimens from central Brazil.

[1] Reports in 1972 and 1982 in South America showed that the oncilla is one of the four most heavily hunted of all the small wild cats.

It is listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting all international commercial trade in oncillas or products made from them.