The Ocelot and Margay are sympatric southwestern carnivore scrub habitat dwellers, barely clinging to life in Texas(and perhaps) Arizona...........Ocelots hunt ground dwelling mammals(Armadillos) whereas Margays hunt those mammals like rats and squirrels that make their living in the tree tops...........100 or so Ocelots are confirmed in two southern Texas locales whereas the Margay might be functionally extinct in the USA....................Only 1% of Texas remains in brush and thorn habitat so the chances for expansion of these populations is very slim...............Note that pre 1850, Arkansas and Louisiana in addition to Arizona was the USA range of the Ocelot............

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Haemig PD  (2012)  Ecology of  the  Ocelot  and Margay.   ECOLOGY.INFO 9 OCELOT

Margay 

Ecology of 

the 

Ocelot 

and Margay

. The Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) and Margay (Leopardus wiedii) are two  small spotted cats that live in  neotropical forests. They are more  closely related to each other than to  ncestor (Slattery et al. 1994; Masuda  et al. 1996; Eizirik et al. 1998).  In  this report, we compare the ecology  of these two cats, noting similarities  and differences. Although similar in appearance, the  Ocelot and Margay can be told  apart by many small characters  (Emmons 1990). For example, the Margay's tail is longer than  its hind leg, while the Ocelot's  tail is shorter than its hind leg  (Emmons 1990).  In addition,  the Ocelot is larger and more  robust than the Margay  (weighing about 3 times as  much), and hunts for food mainly  on the ground (Goldman 1920;  Emmons 1988). In contrast, the Margay forages  for food mainly in trees  (Guggisberg 1975, Konecny  1989), and shows many  adaptations for arboreal living.  For example, the smaller size  of the Margay enables it to  walk further out on branches  than the Ocelot, and its longer  tail enables it to more easily  maintain balance.  It also has  superb leaping ability  (Petersen 1977) and its claws  are proportionately longer  than the Ocelot (Leyhausen  1963; Konecny 1989).  In  addition, the Margay is the  only New World cat with joints  that rotate sufficiently for it  to climb headfirst down trees  with hind feet turned facing  the trunk, like a squirrel  (Leyhausen 1963; Emmons 1990). Distribution  and Habitat The Margay ranges from the  Mexican state of Sonora and  the Lower Rio Grande Valley  of Texas to Uruguay and  Argentina (Gallo-Reynoso  and Navarro-Serment 2002) . Only one specimen is known  from the historic period of Texas:  an adult male collected at Eagle  Pass and entered into the U.S.  National Museum collection in  1852 (Hollister 1914). Because the Margay is generally  less abundant than the Ocelot  throughout its range (Goldman  1920; Leopold 1959), and is  secretive in its habits, it is  unknown whether or not  Margays still roam south Texas.   However, the extensive deforestation  and brush clearing that has  occurred there does not inspire  much hope, particularly the  destruction of most of the tall,  gallery forests of Montezuma  Bald Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum)  and Sabal Palm (Sabal texana) along  the Lower Rio Grande River.  The Eagle Pass specimen differs  from Mexican Margays in that its  fur is longer, with solid or nearly  solid black dorsal spots, instead  of enclosed lighter areas (Goldman  1943). For this reason, the Margay  specimen from Eagle Pass was  classified as a unique subspecies  and given the scientific name  Leopardus wiedii cooperi  (Goldman 1943). Although many people assume that  the Margay is found only in lowland  tropical forests, Nelson and Goldman  (1931) collected an adult male  specimen of this cat at an altitude  of over 3000 meters near the summit  of Cerro San Felipe, Oaxaca, Mexico  in 1894.  While it is possible that  this and the Eagle Pass specimen  were just individual cats that wandered  outside their normal haunts, both  demonstrate that we have much to learn  still about the Margay. In this regard, prehistoric records are  especially interesting because they  suggest further penetration of this  species into what is now the United  States of America.   For example, a sub-fossil specimen  of the Margay dated 2,400 BC has  been collected from a shell midden  in a tidal marsh near the mouth of  the Sabine River, Orange County,  Texas (Eddleman and Akersten 1966).   This locality is just a short distance  west of the Texas-Louisiana border. The Ocelot currently ranges from  south Texas and Sonora to northern  Argentina and Uruguay.  However,  its range in historic times was  considerable greater. In the 1800's,  the Ocelot occurred throughout  the state of Texas and also in  parts of the states of Arkansas,  Louisiana and Arizona (Hall 1981).   The disappearance of the Ocelot  from most of its United States  range was a great loss for, as  Audubon noted, it is the most  beautiful of all cats found in  North America (Audubon & Bachman 1846). Studies of the remaining U.S.A.  Ocelots (i.e. those in south Texas)  have found them restricted to  dense thorn shrub and forest  habitats with over 75% canopy  cover (Shindle 1996, Shindle &  Tewes 1998; Harveson et al. 2004;  Horne et al. 2009).  Unfortunately,  because of extensive brush clearing  and deforestation by humans, less  than 1% of south Texas now supports  these kinds of habitats (Tewes &  Everett 1986).  The result is that the  last surviving Ocelots in the U.S.A.  (approximately 100 in number) are  now endangered because their  brush and forest habitats are  almost gone (Mora 2000; Haines et al.  2005; Janecka et al. 2007, 2008).