Category

Ocelot

A wild cat native to south Texas, the ocelot has suffered from habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as take for the fur and pet trades. Fortunately, recent years have seen progress in its restoration through land acquisitions, thorn scrub restorations, breeding and relocation research, and road crossing improvements.

Interviews

Narrator: Mitch SternbergTitle: Revolucion VerdeDuration: 00:02:56Date: May 31, 2022Mitch Sternberg has served the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a wildlife biologist for nearly a quarter of a century in south Texas, with responsibilities in Aransas, Laguna Atascosa, Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuges. In that work, he has helped with the recovery of the ocelot. Here, he talks about the factors in its decline, including habitat loss due in part to the agricultural clearing associated with the Green Revolution, and the ensuing isolation and inbreeding of ocelot populations.Narrator: Bill SwansonTitle: Nitrogen TankDuration: 00:02:20Date: March 24, 2022Bill Swanson, a veterinarian and reproductive scientist at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, has worked for decades to support the genetic diversity of rare animals, including the ocelot. Here he tells about how frozen sperm and other genetic material have been critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of these highly endangered creatures.Narrator: Hilary SwartsTitle: OM-283Duration: 00:03:42Date: March 10, 2022Hilary Swarts, Ph.D., is a wildlife biologist at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, located to the east of Harlingen, in deep south Texas. Here she describes extraordinary efforts to attempt artificial insemination with sperm drawn from a roadkill ocelot - work involving three zoos and three veterinarians, spread across three states.Narrator: Hilary SwartsTitle: Two CoatsDuration: 00:03:45Date: March 10, 2022Hilary Swarts, a wildlife biologist at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, has worked on ocelot conservation for a number of years. Here she explains how a fashion fad some 60 years ago was one factor in the decline of these now very rare ocelots.Narrator: Mike TewesTitle: Fear of FailureDuration: 00:01:11Date: June 29, 2023Mike Tewes, Ph.D., holds the Yturria Endowed Chair in Wild Cat Studies at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, at Texas A&M University in Kingsville. He has spent over four decades studying the ocelot among other wild felines. Here he talks about the challenge and hesitation that many wildlife managers face with high-stakes decisions affecting rare animals, where a misstep may result in the loss of a species.Narrator: Mike TewesTitle: Cartel WarsDuration: 00:01:17Date: June 29, 2023Dr. Mike Tewes is a leading wild cat expert based at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University in Kingsville. He has worked for many years on ocelot conservation. A promising "translocation" strategy envisioned bringing ocelots from robust groups in Mexico to revive inbred populations in Texas. Unfortunately, war between rival drug gangs in Mexico made this idea too dangerous.Narrator: Mike TewesTitle: Model TDuration: 00:00:17Date: June 29, 2023Mike Tewes, Ph.D., is a leading wild cat researcher at Texas A&M University in Kingsville. He has spent years studying the biology and conservation of the ocelot, once known as the leopard cat. Collisions with automobiles have long been one of the major threats to this rare animal in Texas.Narrator: Mike TewesTitle: A Road, Track, and CanalDuration: 00:03:08Date: June 29, 2023Mike Tewes, a leading wild cat researcher at Texas A&M University in Kingsville, has studied ocelots since the early 1980s. He believes that the decline of this rare cat in its last Texas stronghold in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is due to habitat loss that followed the construction of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway, State Highway 77, and the Brownsville Ship Channel. Narrator: Shari WilcoxTitle: Road CrossingsDuration: 00:03:54Date: April 13, 2022Dr. Shari Wilcox is a cultural geographer who works as a Texas field conservation representative for the nonprofit organization, Defenders of Wildlife. She and her colleagues recognize that traffic collisions with wildlife are a lethal issue for both animals and motorists, so they have been supporting efforts to protect ocelots and other wildlife by promoting safe corridors and road crossings in Texas and throughout the United States.Narrator: John YoungTitle: DiversityDuration: 00:04:35Date: December 8, 2023John Young, Ph.D., an environmental specialist at the Texas Department of Transportation, has spent many years working on the siting, design and installation of structures to allow ocelots, and other wildlife, to safely cross state roads. Here he discusses how a wide variety of structures can be critical to protecting biodiversity for a broad array of animals.