Spatial organization and activity patterns of ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) in a protected subtropical forest of Brazil

Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae), home range in the Lowland Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil

“…Other studies have reported that males usually have larger home ranges than females, resulting in greater overlap between the areas used by males (e.g. Gonzalez-Borrajo et al 2016;Azevedo et al 2019). For females, the area used is determined by availability of food and pregnancy and parental care demands (metabolic demands), while for males it is also determined by access to females (Clutton-Brock and Harvey 1978).…”

“…The proportion of male and female ocelots recorded by camera traps varies between samplings, with studies revealing a greater number of male (e.g. 1.0:0.6 -Pérez-Irineo and Santos-Moreno 2014; 1.0:0.7 - Azevedo et al 2019) or female ocelots (e.g. 1.0-1.9 -Di Bitetti et al 2006;1.0:1.3 -Dillon and Kelly 2008).…”

“…In addition to the lack of information for several parts of its distribution, the studies applied different sampling techniques and approaches to data collection and used different methods for data analysis, resulting in non-comparable values (Gonzalez-Borrajo et al 2016). The Atlantic Forest, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots, has only three home range studies for ocelots, all of them in the Southern portion of the biome (Di Bitetti et al 2006;Goulart et al 2009;Azevedo et al 2019). Information on spatial ecology, including home range size, is crucial for understanding the intraspecific interactions and population dynamics of this species, helping to define wildlife management and conservation actions (Gonzalez-Borrajo et al 2016).…”

Factors influencing the habitat use by ocelots in one of the last large Atlantic Forest remnants in southeastern Brazil

“…The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is the third largest felid in Latin America (Sunquist & Sunquist, 2002), presents a solitary and elusive behavior, and an opportunistic diet (Azevedo et al, 2019;Silva-Pereira et al, 2011). Ocelots are widely distributed across the Americas, occurring from southern Texas in the United States to northern Argentina (Murray & Gardner, 1997).…”

“…Although an extensive knowledge about ocelot´s ecology could be found in the literature (Azevedo et al, 2019;Bianchi et al, 2012;Di Bitetti et al, 2006Massara et al, 2015Massara et al, , 2016Santos et al, 2014), few studies have addressed the habitat use by the species, particularly in protected areas of the Atlantic Forest (Di Bitetti et al, ,,2006Bitetti et al, ,, , 2010Massara et al, 2018). In a recent study conducted in six protected Atlantic Forest reserves (including RDSP) addressing ocelot´s occupancy (Massara et al, 2018), the adopted sample design was restricted only to some portions of the study areas, thus limiting the understanding of the impact of some environmental variables on ocelot´s occupancy and detection in each area separately.…”