A rare sighting of a critically endangered wild cat in Arizona sparked excitement about what else may roam the region.
The ocelot was captured on a trail camera in Coronado National Forest, which is in the Atascosa Highlands, The Arizona Republic reported. It was the first confirmed glimpse of an ocelot in the region in at least 50 years and just the seventh of the animals spotted in the state in the last 20 years.
Ocelots were listed as endangered in 1972 and fewer than 100 live in the United States, and it's unlikely that any are breeding, the Republic reported. This animal in particular is one that hasn't been recorded before, as there is a known ocelot, Lil' Jefe, who has been seen around Arizona for 10 years.
"We were surprised because there hasn't been a formal record of ocelots in this mountain range in 50 years, and the records from the 1980s aren't fully verified," Arizona Zoo field research project manager Kinley Ragan told the outlet. "But ocelots are known to have quite a variable range."
They have been pushed to the brink of extinction, however, by habitat loss and fragmentation. The trail cam — an incredibly valuable conservation tool — that showed the ocelot was among 50 set up as part of the zoo's Atascosa Complex Wildlife Study, which is a survey of the understudied wildlife corridor. The research was expanded after a pilot project last year, and this sighting has led to hopes for another year of recordings.
Ragan would like to see a jaguar, which is in a similar position. The goal is to better understand animals in the area — and educate everyone from residents and landowners to ranchers and conservations.
Ocelots, which eat rabbits, rodents, birds, and lizards, play a vital role in the ecosystem, managing prey populations, controlling the spread of disease, taking their place in the food chain, and spreading nutrients, according to the Republic.
"In the big picture of ocelots, this is a habitat we know they could exist in, but it's just never been recorded in Arizona," Ragan told the paper.
"... We're missing habitat and the connectivity to facilitate that movement and other stressors and dangers that may be occurring along the way."
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