The Environment Of The Ocelot

Wild animals, such as ocelots, face a menace of home destruction in the forest of several countries placed in the American continents. The consequences modify their environment, their life behavior and reduce their survival in the affected regions.

Ocelots are medium-sized, nocturnal, and solitary cats. The ocelots have very stunning camouflage.  As far north as Texas and the Amazonian rain forest and other leafy canopies of South American rain forests serve as a refuge and natural home for ocelots.

They eat meat; they like to hunt rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish, frogs, or others. They do not avoid water and can swim well. Their rough tongues can clean a bone from every last bite.

The ocelots are small; it is the twice the size of a domestic cat. Their importance in nature is due they are the main predators; they also help protect the land from other more common species that could pose a threat, such as black bears, beavers, and cougars.

Although they are not in danger globally, many areas have been reduced and even inhabited by ocelots; the hand of human activities and their appetite for exotic items have made the ocelot a subject of environmental concern.

Image 1: Confident and playful, ocelots are small nocturnal cat-similar animals.

Ocelots face a threat.

The greatest threat to the ocelot´s survival is the loss of habitat caused by the marked increase in agricultural lands, urbanization, and roads; habitat loss and fragmentation. 

There is not much thorn forest left where they live, less than 10 percent of their original cover. Along rows of canals, rights of way, road fences that pose threats to these endangered cats and disrupt their natural habitat. There are a few dozen ocelots left in the United States.

Fine fur of ocelots has made them the target of poachers; this has forced their disappearance; in many areas, ocelots are rare and rare to see them; in Texas, they are in danger of becoming extinct. The government in the United States and other countries intend to protect the ocelots and the environment where they live. 

The Trump administration built more than 200 miles of the 30-foot-high wall between the Mexican border in Arizona in 2020.  It causes the cutting and interruption of international natural corridors for animals; workers cut trees and any other obstacle; many species depend on them for their travels and journeys.

“They’re blasting in these crucial places that are just totally impassable by people but are a necessary habitat,“ Flesch says, a biologist and ecologist at the University of Arizona.

The worst damage occurs along the Arizona border, in the western desert to ponds in the eastern canyons.

“Interconnected landscapes that stretch across two countries are now industrial wastelands, “ said Randy Serraglio of the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson.

“Field cameras have captured 90% less movement of animals such as cougars, bobcats, and pig-like animals in the last three months, “ said Myles Traphagen, a biologist at the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge.

“Maintaining open wildlife corridors is hugely important. After all, wildlife doesn’t have passports,” says Eric Sanderson, lead author of the Oryx paper and a researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society, to preserve a functional ecosystem.

Image 2: Rio grande on Texas, route of the ocelot that is on the threat by constructions.

What´s more?

On the other hand, there are liquefied natural gas facilities in South Texas that would undermine ocelot recovery by directly impacting vital habitats and blocking a main north-south migration corridor.

Damages in other regions where ocelots live are in reports and inform, the Amazon rainforest and its damage today has already been discussed previously. In the future, these few accumulated damages could be the cause of permanent damage to the ocelot and many other animal species.

“SpaceX is operating in one of the most pristine stretches of the Texas coast, in an area that is rich with biological diversity and home to numerous endangered species, including ocelot and Kemp ridley sea turtles, “ said Paul Sanchez-Navarro of Defenders of Wildlife

Buildings and urbanization impact the lives of many of these wild animals, even in national parks, considered sanctuaries for wildlife, vehicle strikes are alarmingly high beyond the roads, so eliminating vehicle damage will not fully alleviate the pressures these populations face.

“There’s a lot we can do to help the biological communities come back, such as replacing roads with native plants. We can help stop erosion, and hopefully, we’ll get some rainfall to replenish streams and ponds. “ said Kurt Vaughn, director of the Borderlands Restoration Network. “Simply removing the fence may be enough to improve some binational species’ prospects,“ Flesch says.

Hunting also causes endangered species such as grizzly bears and ocelots to poison by collecting lead-contaminated shells. Similarly, they run the risk of being killed in misidentifying shots or in self-defense by hunters. Some ocelots may have shy or nervous behaviors; some live in the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, can be disturbed by gunfire from hunters, and risk potential vehicle collisions.

There have been reports of jaguars, pumas, and ocelots smuggling into China, a relatively recent illegal development.

“Countries that have stronger ties to China, combined with weak governance, combined with high levels of corruption, is almost like a recipe for an increase in the illegal wildlife trade,“ says Vincent Njiman, co-author and anthropologist who studies the wildlife trade. Especially in Latin America, where the ocelot is prevalent in jungle areas.

Image 3: The region where the ocelot lives, increasingly reduced over time (by Wildcat Conservation Organization)

Ensuring the future of the animal species that live in those forests depends on us; definitively, establish clear boundaries must be between areas of wildlife is necessary; while ensuring long-term survival and that cannot be eliminated by governments later.

Repairing the damage caused to the affected areas is a good idea to restore natural systems and increase the animal population. Establish some forest guard and constant monitoring around the designated limits to avoid illegal acts.

Expanding and improving the habitats with suitable vegetation available for these cats, at the same time as for other species, would increase their numbers in the wild while favoring their relationships with humans.

Unintentional threats from nearby communities, such as the use of rodenticides, antibiotics, hormones, and other drugs and their elimination, must be taken into account, in addition to the dangers of vehicular traffic. Improperly disposed chemicals are also a frequent threat to animals in these areas.

Prevention and early solutions should come first in these issues because the effect of these damages is not usually immediate, but overwhelming with their arrival; We do not see them now, but in the future, we may no fix it.

 

References

• San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) Fact Sheet. c 2011-2019. San Diego (CA): San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance; [accessed 2021-06-6]. http://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/ocelot.

• National Geographic. Douglas Main. Why a new jaguar sighting near the Arizona-Mexico border gives experts hope. March 23, 2021. Link https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/jaguar-near-arizona-border-wall-mexico.

• Defenders of Wildlife. Ocelot. Washington, DC 20036. Link https://defenders.org/wildlife/ocelot.

• Panthera, (2015), Jaguars, A Species Under Threat [online], Available from: http://www.panthera.org/node/10.

• Defenders of Wildlife. Environmental organizations spotlight inadequate oversight by FAA of SpaceX’s Boca Chica testing facility, call for an EIS. July 7, 2020. Link https://defenders.org/newsroom/environmental-organizations-spotlight-inadequate-oversight-faa-of-spacexs-boca-chica.

• Scientific American. April Reese. Some Ecological Damage from Trump’s Rushed Border Wall Could Be Repaired. January 25, 2021. Link https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/some-ecological-damage-from-trumps-rushed-border-wall-could-be-repaired1/.

• Anita Snow. CS Monitor. As mountains give way to the border wall, where does wildlife go?.  December 18, 2020. Link https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2020/1218/As-mountains-give-way-to-border-wall-where-does-wildlife-go.

• Brain, R.A., Anderson, J.C. Anthropogenic factors affecting wildlife species status outcomes: why the fixation on pesticides?. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08980-1.

• Center for Biological Diversity. Collette Adkins. Lawsuit Launched to Stop Damaging Hunting Practices From Killing Endangered Wildlife on Refuges. October 27, 2020. Link https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-launched-stop-damaging-hunting-practices-killing-endangered-wildlife-refuges-2020-10-27/.

• American Forest. Katherine Gustafson. Two Threatened Cats, 2,000 Miles Apart, with One Need: A Healthy Forest.  Summer 2020. Link https://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/two-threatened-cats-2000-miles-apart-with-one-need-a-healthy-forest/.