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Mammalian Biology

, Volume 76, Issue 3, pp 377–379 | Cite as

Intraspecific killing of a male ocelot

  • Cynthia L. ThompsonEmail author
Short Communication
First Online:

Abstract

Raw data on the social behavior of secretive felids is often scant. A freshly killed ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) corpse was found at Brownsberg Nature Park, Suriname. The specimen incurred damage to the neck, skull, upper vertebrae, and scapula. These injuries are consistent with the hypothesis that it was killed by a conspecific, most likely during a male-male interaction. This paper reviews the physical damage and the possible social scenarios that may have caused these injuries. While isolated, this incident can provide insight to a rarely seen behavior of a traditionally difficult to observe species.

Keywords

Leopardus pardalis Mortality Social Behavior Suriname 
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Copyright information

© Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Biological AnthropologyKent State UniversityKentUSA

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