Rare Ocelot Caught on Camera in Arizona, the First Sighting in Its Area for 50 Years

A wildlife camera captured a rare sighting of an endangered ocelot in Arizona this summer. The video marks the first ocelot seen in the Atascosa Highlands region in more than 50 years, and researchers analyzed the animal’s spots to confirm it was new to the state.

“It’s [a] very rare record,” Kinley Ragan, field research project manager for the Phoenix Zoo, tells Shannon Handy of CBS8. “However, more research is needed to further understand the full extent of these populations, and for our record, is this individual passing through? Are they staying year-round? Are there others with it? This is all kind of questions that we’re really excited to explore.”

Researchers with the Phoenix Zoo caught the sighting as part of a wildlife monitoring project, which deployed roughly 50 cameras in April around the Coronado National Forest near Arizona’s border with Mexico. There, three mountain ranges make up the Atascosa Highlands, an important wildlife corridor that’s relatively understudied, per a statement from the zoo.

On a routine check of cameras to replace the batteries and SD cards, researchers played back some of the footage. They were shocked to see the ocelot stalking across desert brush before pausing on a rock and walking out of the frame.

“This particular location required a 40-minute hike to the site as the temperature was reaching 95 degrees,” Ragan says in the statement. “The ocelot video was one of the last videos I reviewed and sent full chills through my body at the excitement and pride in what we had recorded. I was in disbelief at first, watching the video over and over again, but soon a big smile spread across my face as the full impact of this discovery for the important region set in.”

Exciting news! The Phoenix Zoo’s Atascosa Complex Wildlife Study recorded a video of a new ocelot in southern Arizona in June. It is the first confirmed ocelot sighting in the Atascosa Highlands region in at least 50 years.

Read more here: https://t.co/gxX5U45SjZ pic.twitter.com/mzQSSGqpac

— Phoenix Zoo (@phoenixzoo) August 13, 2024

Ocelots are currently listed as endangered in the United States. They first received that status in 1972 and are seen in Arizona only occasionally. The wild cats have a large range, stretching as far south as Argentina. But their U.S. population is thought to be fewer than 100 individuals, with the only known breeding population located in Texas. Before human activity nearly wiped them out, the wild cats used to roam across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Arizona.

A major factor contributing to their decline is the loss of habitat. Ocelots need dense forests and sprawling grasslands for shelter and protection as they move, writes Popular Science’s Laura Baisas. They also depend on small rodents, rabbits, lizards and birds that live in these places for food.

“They used to historically be here, and so because of changing climates, because of lack of habitat and connectivity, they’re not here anymore,” Ragan tells CBS8. “To be able to have this record just gives us more information of how to better protect these ecosystems for species, so that we can ensure that they’re here in the future.”

The cat in the video is fascinating not only because of its rarity but also because it was seen in desert scrub and at a lower elevation than ocelots are usually spotted, per the statement.

Phoenix Zoo Ocelot Trail Cam

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The new sighting marks the seventh known ocelot to roam around Arizona in the last two decades, reports Hayleigh Evans for the Arizona Republic. Tracy McCarthey, a regional nongame specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, used a spot analysis to confirm that the ocelot recently captured on camera was not one of those previously seen.

Another ocelot, which has been consistently spotted in Arizona since last year, was seen more than 50 miles away from this new sighting. Other research initiatives, such as the University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center’s wildcat monitoring project, have identified jaguars and ocelots in the region. Once ocelot, dubbed ocelot #4, has been spotted 44 times since 2012.

During a pilot study in the Atascosa Highlands in 2023, which used 30 cameras, scientists did not capture footage of any ocelots or jaguars. However, they did identify 21 different species of mammals. This time around, the team set up more cameras and monitored a greater diversity of habitats.

Visual data from the cameras will help research teams understand the best way to conserve species like ocelots. Zoo staff and volunteers plan to retrieve more camera footage later this month and again in the fall. Aside from collecting footage, the team intends to obtain water samples to test for DNA of the mammals present in the region.

“We’re excited to see if this was a one-off and what this means for the area,” Ragan tells the Arizona Republic. “Are there more? Now that we are formally surveying it, what else can we uncover in this beautiful landscape?”

Elizabeth Gamillo | | READ MORE

Elizabeth Gamillo is a correspondent for Smithsonian and a science journalist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has written for Science magazine as their 2018 AAAS Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Intern.