Saturday, July 19, 2025

Margay

 Hi. Sorry for disappearing again for a bit. Things got a bit hectic and...problematic recently. I volunteered to help my Aunt move to her new house, but the timing of things went wrong and we had to have the Pod she got filled up on Friday, then we got the large Uhaul truck to load up, but we couldn't go to the new house until Tuesday morning, which was also the day that I was supposed to be back home for things, and she had to be out of the house by Wednesday, so we had to get everything loaded, unloaded, reloaded, and re-unloaded on Tuesday so that we could load up the stuff that wouldn't fit into her new house and get home, which was a three hour drive, and after arriving at home at 1 am on Wednesday, I, my mother, and my brother, had to unload everything so that we could get it back to the Uhaul people before they opened Thursday morning. Which means I spent the last week tired from moving an entire house's worth of furniture around twice, including her large collection of plants, a dozen of whom were in 15 gallon pots and weighed a half-ton, or trying to get things dealt with but being stopped by my aunt because she has a few health issues but wanted to be the one doing a lot of things even though she didn't actually do things because she didn't have the energy/ability, but she wouldn't let us do it because she needed to be the one going through things...and just making things really annoying. 

Because of  that, I didn't have the energy or care to write about something without being really grumpy, and I needed some time cuddling my babies again for a bit to get back the energy and care to write this without being grumpy.


Pic from We Love Catz below. 

Today, I want to tell you about Margays. They're a kind of wild cat that I would definitely cuddle, but would probably try to kill me if they could. In case you were wondering, no, that wouldn't stop me from trying if I meet one. Look at the picture above and tell me you wouldn't pet that. 


This picture comes from A-Z Animals, link below. These lovely cats are often mistaken for ocelots, which live in the same area, but there are a few key differences that you might be able to use to keep them separate. Ocelots are larger, and Margays have larger eyes and feet, proportionally. 

These guys are about the size of a house-cat and live in the thick rainforests of South America. They haven't been studied a lot because they're small and fast, plus they spend a lot of time in the trees and are nocturnal, so it's hard to count them or keep an eye on them for long. 

One of the unique things about Margays is that they can actually go down a tree headfirst, like a squirrel, because their ankles can turn to support them. I know you're probably thinking about cats going up and down tall things all the time, but they usually do something more like a slide and leap, rather than a controlled descent. These guys are adapted to life in the trees more than most-- which doesn't mean they're always in the trees, but they still spend a lot of time up there, and have trouble if their environment suddenly doesn't have trees. Picture below from We Love Catz. 


Another thing that's interesting and unique about these guys is that they have what could be called a mating dance. The female makes long whining calls, and the male, once they find the female, roar and trill while shaking his head. This hasn't been seen in other cats, and might not be something all Margays do, because they are under-studied due to being small and shy. 


This picture of what I assume is grumpy mama and curious baby, is from We Love Catz. They've got some really nice pictures. 

My Margay looks a lot like them, don't you think? Or, at least, my Margay looks adorable and cuddly...and sleepy. 






I hope you enjoyed learning about adorable wild cats, and my same-name adorable tamed kitty. I'll try to be back soon with news about another adorable wild/tame kitten. 


Sources:

Wild Cat Conservation-- Margay

Soft School-- Margay Facts

Animal Diversity Web-- Margay

A-Z Animals-- Margay

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Margay

Earth's Endangered Creatures-- Margay

Big Cat Rescue- Margay

We Love Catz-- 6 Facts about Margays

Fact Animal-- 14 Margay Facts

No comments:

Post a Comment

Borneo Bay Cat

 Also known as Bay Cat, or BB for me.  Unlike the last few, this guy is actually in Southern Asia, instead of South America. Also, unlike th...