Big cats in Costa Rica

There are Ticos (Costa Ricans) who claim to have seen the jaguar. Some people believe their stories, most don’t, but he still exists. The jaguar lives hidden deep in the dense and evergreen rainforests of Costa Rica. Even larger populations are suspected especially in the Corcovado National Park. Jaguars have also been spotted near San José or in the woods around La Fortuna. There is also evidence of them in the La Tigra Rainforest Lodge and in the Bosque Eterno des los Niños.

The big cat is found almost exclusively in Central and South America and is one of the big cats on the red list of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) that are “low risk”. Around 15,000 – 25,000 animals still live on the entire American continent. This is difficult to say because the jaguar is very shy and stays away from people as much as possible. In order to protect the animals Costa Rica started to set up sanctuaries many years ago. The main focus of these efforts has been the jaguar, known as an ‘umbrella species’, as it claims vast hunting grounds and once protected, many other species within its territory will also be protected at the same time.

Jaguars are solitary animals, they only come together to mate. After about 100 days, usually 2 to 4 young are born, which are completely blind for the first 13 days of their lives. The little ones are nursed by their mother for about five to six months before they can feed themselves. One their menu are 85 prey items including deer, peccaries, agoutis, and tapirs. Contrary to other carnivores such as wolves or wild dogs they do not hunt their prey but rather ambush them. This is called a hide hunt. During their attacks they cross areas of at least 15-100 square miles, but there are also records of up to 500 square miles. Their territories sometimes overlap but the males quickly avoid each other.

Jaguars usually have no natural enemies, however, young animals are occasionally killed by poisonous snakes. As is so often the case, the jaguar’s greatest enemy is man. Hunting and trading in skins or the dwindling habitat due to deforestation are responsible for reducing their numbers. After a particularly large number of jaguars were killed in the 1960s, especially in the Amazon region, they were included in the list of endangered species in the Washington Convention on the Protection of Species in 1970 and have been placed under maximum protection in Europe by an EC regulation. Unfortunately, jaguars are still poached in the wild as the hunters can often fetch high prices on the black market.

Long-tailed cats, also called the margay, tree ocelot or mountain ocelot, are found from Central to South America. They are slightly larger than regular house cats but smaller than the ocelot. In their fur markings, they are very similar to the ocelot or the oncilla which is why they are difficult to distinguish from them. The slim and elegant animals have a yellowish-brown basic color with black spots and stripes and the belly and underside of the tail are usually lighter than the rest of the fur. Most margays are 4 feet long including the tail and weigh between 6 and 15 pounds. In captivity, the animals can live up to 20 years, but their age in the wild is still largely unknown.

The Margays have a large distribution area but there are usually only up to 5 animals in an area of 60 square miles, although sometimes up to 20 animals have been spotted. According to the scientists, this usually depends heavily on how many ocelots are in this territory since these represent superior food competitors.

Female margays are sexually mature after just one year. The gestation period is about 80 days until the tiny 1/3 pound cubs are born. A litter of Marguays usually consists of only 1 to 2 young which are then suckled for up to 8 weeks, after which they only eat solid food. Margays are solitary and nocturnal which is why they have such large eyes. During the day they hide in the dense canopy of the rainforest. They normally live in the tropical lowlands up to an altitude of 1,500 meters and their hunting range is between 10 and 30 square miles. Over the millennia they have adapted perfectly to their tropical environment. They are perfect climbers and can even climb down a tree head first because of a movable joint in their hind paws, a feature only found in the margay and the clouded leopard. 

Margays  can  jump up to 13 feet and about 8 feet high which gives them significant advantages when hunting their prey. They hunt monkeys and squirrels in addition to smaller mammals, birds and reptiles. They use an amazing and effective hunting method where they imitate the sounds of their victims to irritate or attract them. Meanwhile, they sneak closer and closer to their prey making a successful attack easier and greatly reducing energy consumption in the event of a possible pursuit.

Margays are not yet threatened but their habitat is constantly being reduced by human intervention. Scientists predict that by 2020, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest will separate many populations leading to a reduction in genetic diversity. The researchers expect the total population to decline by 30% over the next 18 years. In the past, they were hunted for their beautiful fur but the marguays have been protected south of Mexico since 1972 which has meant a decline in hunting numbers. The margays are also protected in Costa Rica which means that the population here remains relatively constant. Margays are now and then seen in the Ecocentro Danaus.

What a beautiful little cat of prey. They quietly wander through the jungle, always on gentle paws in search of tasty prey. Hardly seen and even more rarely heard they are one of the rarest animal species in Costa Rica. Maybe not the rarest, but the cat that travelers usually don’t see.

The ocelot is a small spotted cat native to Central and South America. Ocelots can weigh up to 33 pounds and have a body length between 1 and 3 feet. Their incredibly soft fur is slightly yellowish, almost orange, to sometimes only grayish in color. The black spots that the cat is speckled with are arranged in stripes across the body. The ocelot has a particularly pronounced shape in the front and rear legs in order to be able to climb better. Like all cats, they have five retractable claws on their front paws and four on their back paws.

The distribution area of the wild cats extends from northern Argentina up to the USA. The largest population is found in the Amazon basin although the populations here are also steadily declining due to slash and burn and the associated destruction of the rainforest. Ocelots prefer a more densely vegetated habitat because they depend on this vegetation when hunting. They avoid open savannahs and are at home in mountain forests but mainly in tropical rainforests and mangrove forests like our La Tigra rainforest lodge and in the Ecocentro Danaus.

The ocelot is a loner and mainly nocturnal. During the day it mostly hides in abandoned tree cavities, dense foliage or other sheltered hiding places. Ocelots, while good climbers, hunt primarily on the ground but can swim fairly well depending on the situation which is rather rare in cats. Their menu includes rodents, mice, birds, monkeys and sometimes reptiles such as iguanas and turtles, as well as fish and insects.

Depending on the food supply and available breeding partners, their territories vary between 2 and 20 square miles. The territories of the females are usually smaller and only slightly larger if there is only a small amount of food. Males and females only get together to mate, after which they go their separate ways. After about 80 days the blind young are born. They only open their eyes after about two weeks. Until then, the mother protects her cubs in a tree hollow or a rock niche. After just three months, the young animals are left to their own devices.  

Ocelots are threatened with extinction and this is caused by humans. Not only  does poaching play a role but above all, it is the increasing destruction of their habitat. Due to their large distribution area, however, they are not yet on the IUCN Red List.

Seeing an ocelot in the wild is quite rare. The shy and nocturnal animals keep away from people. Nevertheless, some of our guides in Costa Rica have managed to do it one or more times. And our night vision cameras confirm that they really exist, the shy cats of the jungle!

Due to the camera trap work of the last few months we know that ocelots often roamed around the Ecocentro Danaus and on January 6th, 2016 the team on site saw a big cat for the first time ever. It was a somewhat smaller representative called the tree ocelot or margay which is similar to the ocelot, but is slightly smaller and has a longer tail. Another feature is that the tree ocelot, as the name suggests, is adapted to life in trees and its habitat is severely endangered by deforestation.

The males are usually larger than the females. The males have a head-body length of 4 feet while the females only measure around 3.5 feet. A special feature of adult pumas is that they get smaller and smaller the closer they get to the equator. Pumas that live at the poles are larger. What exactly this phenomenon is connected with is not sufficiently clear.

A puma feeds on all sizes of animals. Small prey include mice, rats, raccoons and beavers. Larger prey include moose, deer and reindeer. On rare occasions a puma will feed on fish and birds, however, the puma is not a scavenger like hyenas, and it also avoids reptiles such as iguanas or snakes.

Pumas can be seen basically all over Costa Rica, however, most observations are in Corcovado National Park.

Hidden deep in the rainforest lives an almost mystical little cat which mostly hides itself from human eyes. The little tiger cat is probably high on the list of many animal watchers in Costa Rica but most will probably never be able to see the beautiful cat live.

The little tiger cat, also called little spotted cat or Oncilla, is a South American species of the cat family. It measures approximately 16 to 20 inches in length plus its tail which is around 12 inches long. It weighs approx. 4.5 to 6.5 pounds making it a bit larger than normal domestic cats. It weighs quite a bit less than its close relatives such as a male British Shorthair cat who weighs around 13 pounds. Their coat design resembles that of an ocelot or jaguar and not, as their name might suggest, that of a tiger. 

The little tiger cat is very similar to the ocelot or margay, especially in shape and coat markings. The distinguishing features of the tiger cat compared to the other two cats are a relatively short tail, larger ears and eyes that are further apart. Quite often, little tiger cats suffer from melanism, which means giving birth to all-black kittens. The little tiger cat’s prey includes mice, birds, lizards, but also insects such as grasshoppers, centipedes or beetles.

Little tiger cats are common in South and Central America. They are found from Costa Rica to northern Argentina. They mostly live in tropical rainforests and cloud forests but occasionally they occur in subtropical forests. The habitat of the little tiger cat is severely restricted by deforestation. For example, between the years 1940 and 1977, almost half of the forests in Costa Rica where little tiger cats lived were cleared. The little tiger cat was therefore classified as “vulnerable” by the IUCN . Despite all this, these cats are not necessarily shy, as shown by examples from Brazil, where little tiger cats have been observed on the outskirts of cities. 

Little tiger cats can be found in the lowlands of Costa Rica up to an altitude of about 3,000 meters. They are quite rare and difficult to observe. It basically requires an expedition because you have to lie and wait at night. Since the little tiger cat mainly hunts on the ground you can photograph it quite well with camera traps.

There are a few rare wild cats in Costa Rica and the Jaguarundi is one of them. Due to the fact that this cat is rarely seen, it is unclear how old a jaguarundi can become in the wild.

It is found from southern Texas through Costa Rica and Nicaragua to northern Argentina but despite its vast range it is one of the least studied cat species in the Americas. There are two coat colors in jaguarundis, a gray and a russet morph, each having small white patches on the face which is why they were thought to be separate species at the time.

Jaguarundis have short legs, a long tail and can weigh up to 20 pounds. What is also striking is their repertoire of different sounds, 13 of which can be clearly distinguished from each other. Jaguarundis feel at home in swampy to dry areas as well as thorn bush and rainforests, however, they prefer to stay in sparse forests and on the edges of forests. They are found from sea level to altitudes of 3,200 meters.

Jaguarundis are mostly solitary animals but two or more animals have been sighted together although it is not clear whether they are mates, a mother with her almost fully grown young, or some other association. The jaguarundi, unlike the margay, hunts mainly on the ground and during the day (dawn to dusk). Their prey consists of smaller mammals, birds and reptiles. They often hunt domestic animals such as chickens. Jaguarundis are also fairly good swimmers and skilled climbers but they usually only do so in emergencies or when a tasty prey lures them. The jaguarundi is said to have even been tamed by native peoples of South America and trained to hunt rodents.

The territorial size of the jaguarundi and its behavior are still unexplored or of contradictory nature. After a gestation period of approx. 73 days, usually 2 to 4 young are born, which initially have spotted fur. After three weeks, the cubs get solid food for the first time which they cannot really eat yet. Only at the age of 6 weeks are they really able to digest the meat.