The journey of a young ocelot

Still sneaking around: Sasha, the ocelot

12/12/2018

All grown up: Sasha, the ocelot.

The first time I met Sasha was on January 3, 2017 together with her mother, Lotje. Five months later she started to explore the big world all by herself. It takes about 1 to 2 years before they will find their own territory.

Here is Sasha, all grown up sneaking to the feeder. Even though she is an adult, she still is not comfortable in this area as it is still her mothers' territory. But she won't say no for a free meal.

Just like her mother, Sasha knows me well too and is also used to my presence. Here she slowly approached the feeder all looking shy and innocent, which is not true at all.

You can clearly see that she is a young adult now and appears to be a bit larger compared to her mother. And well-fed too by the way. It doesn't show that she is starving. This also means that there is enough food for her and any other wild cat in the area. A healthy environment.

Whenever she gets the chance she comes by at the feeder. The spot her mother brought her too when she was still young. Sasha doesn't come by every day, usually 3 times a week whenever she gets the chance.

Here a close up photo of Sasha; a healthy shiny and clean fur. Well fed and you can definitely see that she enjoyed the right training from Lotje.

Since she is still trespassing on Lotje's territory, Sasha won't wait out in the open. She doesn't like to be surprised so usually she waits for me in a tree nearby. Either in a Mango tree or a Guava tree. A great example that ocelots are excellent climbers too. I bet she also does that inside the forest too. So those who are on the Kabalebo tours, you are being watched.

And here is Sasha with her mother Lotje way back on January 3, 2017. Here she was still a young and shy ocelot. Her mother raised her pretty well. So proud of both of them.

By the way: here you can also see the difference between a young and an older ocelot. The fur: when still young their fur is dark brown. The older they get the color of the fur will fade too.

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