AnimalvsAnimal
Margay in Costa Rica🐈

Photo: Supreet Sahoo · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesCarnivoraFelidae
Carnivores

🐈Margay

Leopardus wiedii (Schinz, 1821)

The margay is a small wild cat native to Mexico, Central and South America. A solitary and nocturnal felid, it lives mainly in primary evergreen and deciduous forest.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
1
Photos
2
Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 1/17th of your weight
Also called
Tree Ocelot
Conservation status
NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2015.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
3.6 kg
Body length
0.69 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
24 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Margay

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
3.6 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 3.67 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.69 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
24 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 24 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
6 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
2.9 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
81 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 81 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 2
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.5AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Omnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
8.54 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
3.6 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Margay yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyFelidae
  6. ›genusLeopardus
  7. ›speciesLeopardus wiedii
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyFelidae
  4. genusLeopardus
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderFeliformia
  13. familyFelidae
  14. genusLeopardus
More

More about the Margay

Closest relative on this site
🐈 Ocelot — last shared an ancestor ≈ 0.2 million years ago.
What it eats
warm-blooded animals80%
fruit20%
In other languages
Leopardus wiedii (es), Peludo (de), boomkat (nl), Ocelot nadrzewny (pl), 마게이 (ko), Margay (fr) … and 24 more languages
More photos
Margay in Costa RicaLeopardus wiedii 158015561
All 2 photos in the gallery →

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

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Tools

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Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

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Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

14 branchesOpen →