It lives along the coast of Mexico, all of Central America, northwest
Argentina, Peru, and Paraguay. Only a very small population lives
in Texas. They prefer to live in the lowland areas of their range,
from the open countryside to forests and swamps.
The Jaguarundi's name means weasel-cat in German because of its appearance.
They do look like otters, with their almost perfectly round head, small
semi-circular ears, short muzzle, long body carried on short stocky legs,
long slender tail, and greyish brown coloring with no spots. The Jaguarundi
is one of the only felines to not have spots. They also have black ears with
one large white spot in the middle of the back of each ear, which all cats have.
It serves to signal to other felines the cat's mood; the spots are clearly present
when the ears are laid backward so it may signal aggression.
They hunt mostly during the day. They eat rodents, rabbits, hares, birds
and even fruit. They will often take domestic poultry.
The Jaguarundi seems to tame relatively well as a pet. South American
natives had kept these cats as pets for centuries. They helped keep
the population of rodents down in the villages. They will purr and even
chirp like a bird when happy.
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