Ocelot Facts for Kids

It's no surprise the ocelot manages to be the favorite animal of so many. They're just so darn cute.

Even though they spend their time hunting in the jungle like any other wild cat, they can't help but look like a giant adorable kitten, with a body and facial features more like an ordinary cat than a ferocious wild animal, earning them the nickname "dwarf leopard."

Ocelots are found in many countries throughout South and Central America, and occasionally in the United States, near the Mexican border.

They love to live in thick forests, like tropical rainforest and mangrove swamps, where their spotted fur coat helps them blend in with the environment when they're out hunting, though they also hunt in emptier areas at night.

Because ocelots more closely resemble small cats rather than big ones, their hunting habits have quite a bit in common with smaller felines, meaning they prefer to go after smaller prey, like rodents, birds, lizards, turtles, fish, and other creatures smaller than itself.

Ocelots don't have super strong bodies or jaws like other large cats, like the jaguar, so ocelots prefer to go after small prey, avoiding dangerous jungle animals that could injure it severely.

Ocelots give birth to very few kittens at a time. Usually just one! This means its mother has to take extra special care to make sure it knows how to take care of itself after it goes off to find its own territory.

When an ocelot is born, it can't even open its eyes, and stays that way for 2 weeks. It stays in the den for about 3 months, when it's old enough to tag along on her hunting adventures. When it's about 2 years old, it will go off to find its own home, living alone, until it's time to find another ocelot to breed with.

Ocelots can live a pretty long time; up to 20 years in captivity, and a little less in the wild.

Ocelots are very territorial, getting into fights with other ocelots, unlike some other cats that prefer to walk away instead of getting into a fight.

Ocelots, like many other wild cats, have been pets to some pretty famous people throughout history, most famously the artist Salvador Dalí. This abstract, surrealist painter had a pet ocelot named Babou, who came along with him on many trips.

Keeping such a pet is hard work, though even though they look like house cats, it's not a good idea to get one unless you really know how to take care of one!