Ocelot

A couple of months ago I introduced the ocelots of Kabalebo. Beautiful wild cats who are now part of the big family of Kabalebo.


In the beginning many of the co-workers were against the feeding of the ocelots. Most of them were afraid that the ocelot might want to attack and devour them. Others told me that these cats are actually small jaguars and still need to grow. But the more they warned me, the more I got curious of knowing the ocelots a bit better. Setting up trophy cams was the start of my ocelot observation. It appeared that the lodge area was already a part of their territory. Every night they walk by behind the staff houses or on the hiking trails. 


Now that we know there are 3 noticeable territorial ocelots (Lotje, Katja and Boyke) near the lodge, it is now easy to predict how often they appear at the feeder. All thanks to the trophy cams it is now clear that Katja visits the feeder 3 - 4 times a week. Lotje comes by twice a week and Boyke 2 - 3 times a week. Sometimes they meet each other at the feeder, but the confrontation never ends into a fight. As they know that they might get badly injured during the fight which none of them really want to happen.


Even though I put food for them every night, they still are wild cats and from time to time they like to hunt on live prey (egrets, lizards, iguana's or small birds)

Boyke just finished eating.

Katja just started.

Lotje caught an iguana during the day.