Wild Cats In South Texas

The OCELOT is native to southern Texas and north-eastern Mexico.

Wild cats in south texas. Currently found only in extreme southern Texas. Current estimates are that fewer than 50 of these wild cats are left in the US with all of them residing in South Texas. They rarely if ever venture into the Texas Hill Country.

Both live in far south Texas and consume similar prey species consisting of rabbits small birds and rodents. Here at Laguna Atascosa National Park in Cameron County there are three varieties of wild cats. Camera traps in a south Texas wildlife refuge spotted a new ocelot roaming through the park.

Ocelot kittens are born blind after about a month their eyes finally open and they start to develop different colors on their fur. Wild animals prefer to live far away from civilization. These wild cats are known as the ocelot the jaguarundi the margay and the jaguar though it is now probably extinct in Texas.

According to the Texas Parks Wildlife Department breeding populations of wild mountain lions are found only in the Big Bend Trans-Pecos region and deep south Texas in close proximity to the Rio Grande. Throughout the years I have learned that nothing grabs the attention of an outdoors lover quicker than a wild cat encounter. Many wild cats species are either endangered or threatened.

Meet the Native Cats of Texas Jaguarundi Jaguarundi Herpailurus yaguarondi The jaguarundi shares characteristics with the ocelot. Of the 40 wild cat species only the lion typically lives and hunts in groups. They have no place to go because the native vegetation has been cleared making it hard for them to establish new territories find the shelter they need to rest feed and raise their young.

The last encounter with a jaguar in South Texas was in the 1950s in the San Benito area. Four primarily Central American cats jaguar jaguarundi ocelot and margay currently or historically ranged northward into the brushland south of San Antonio from Mexico. South Texas had originally five species of wild cats.