Repository of Randomness: Oncilla

Continuing on with the plan of telling you about the kitten names, today is Oncilla.

Aren't they all adorable?

Well, I guess I should say, the usual Oncilla is this guy, pics from the Fact Animal link below.

Still pretty adorable. As anyone that knows me would guess, yes, I would love to cuddle. Considering that this guy is actually a bit smaller than my usual housecats, I might even survive the encounter. Well, as long as my Mini-Mistress Squirrel doesn't find out ang get upset that I'm cuddling someone that isn't her, or her family who I am allowed to cuddle half as much for all of them as I cuddle her. It took a bit for her to accept that I do still pet other cats, even if I do recognize that I am her chosen servant.

Back to Oncillas though.

They're the smallest of the South American wild cats, weighing about 5 pounds and measuring about 2 feet long, which makes them longer and lighter than most house cats. There might be two species of Oncilla, though it's still a bit weird because it doesn't seem like there are a lot of differences, but there might be evidence that they can't interbreed, which is one of the big markers for species being separate.

Interestingly, it seems like Melanistic Oncillas aren't uncommon. Melanism means that they are differently colored, more black. In this case, they go from miniature leopards to miniature panthers, such as this picture from the Panthera link below.

These guys are small and agile, and they tend to go after rodents or whatever small animals they can find, and they tend to find areas that are low in larger cats so that they can fill the gap, such as places that don't have enough food for the larger cats, or are closer to humans than an ocelot would like. Because of their small size, agile nature, and hiding, some consider them to be the least studied wild cat in the Americas. I know I say that a lot, but there is a lot of things that aren't studied enough yet, and that's probably not going to change soon since the list keeps growing as we learn of more things to look into.

There's a quote from a podcast I really like, the Infinite Monkey Cage, and it paraphrases as 'Science doesn't answer questions. It just helps us find better questions.' Which means, to me at least, that the more science tells us, the more we understand what we don't know and therefore the more questions we know to ask.

But, that's ok. We'll learn more as we study the new questions, and I look forward to what comes next.

Right now though, it's more kitten pictures and another wild cat that gave it's name to my adorable little beasties. To end this particular post though, I'll share a real kitten picture of a wild Oncilla, instead of more of my 'tamed' Oncilla.