Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Pam­pas cats, Leop­ar­dus colo­colo, have an ex­pan­sive ge­o­graphic range. In fact, they have been said to have a greater ge­o­graphic range than any other South Amer­i­can cat. They are found in the forested slopes of the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Bo­livia, the cloud forests of Chile, the Paraguayan chaco, open wood­land areas of cen­tral, west­ern, north­east­ern, and south­ern Brazil, the pam­pas of Ar­gentina and Uruguay, and south­ern Patag­o­nia. (IUCN, 1996; Sil­veira, 1995)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

Just as the ge­o­graphic range of the species varies widely, so does the habi­tat in which it is found. It can be found in open wood­land or scrub thicket, cloud for­est, cold, semi-arid desert re­gions, low-ly­ing swamps, flood­plains, and moun­tain­ous slopes. The only for­est re­gions it has not been found to in­habit through­out its range are low­land trop­i­cal and tem­per­ate rain forests.(IUCN, 1996; Sil­veira, 1995)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• forest
• scrub forest
• mountains

• Wetlands
• marsh

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics of L. colo­colo vary across its range in South Amer­ica. In the high Andes it is gray in color and has red­dish stripes that are bro­ken up into spots. In Ar­gentina, the coat of L. colo­colo is gen­er­ally longer and yel­low-brown in color with a muted pat­tern. Long fur is also typ­i­cal to those in­di­vid­u­als liv­ing in Brazil, but they tend to be rust col­ored with black bands on their yel­low to or­ange sides and their lat­eral un­der­parts.

A three month old male pam­pas cat from cen­tral Brazil that was brought into a zoo had the typ­i­cal rusty color but also had very dark, ir­reg­u­lar stripes over its en­tire body. By the time it had reached eight months of age, the dor­sal and lat­eral strip­ing had dis­ap­peared, and only the stripes on the limbs and un­der­parts re­mained.

Ears of L. colo­colo are large and more pointed than most other small, neotrop­i­cal cats. Typ­i­cal head and body length is 435-700 mm, tail length is 220-322 mm, and shoul­der height is 300-350 mm. Av­er­age weight is 3 to 7 kg.

(IUCN, 1996; Wildlife On Easy Street, 2000; Sil­veira, 1995)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range mass

  3 to 7 kg

  6.61 to 15.42 lb

• Range length

  435 to 700 mm

  17.13 to 27.56 in

De­vel­op­ment

See Re­pro­duc­tion.

Re­pro­duc­tion

The mat­ing sys­tem and be­hav­ior of this an­i­mal are not known.

L. colo­colo in cap­tiv­ity in the north­ern hemi­sphere breeds pe­riod from April to July. Ges­ta­tion is from 80 to 85 days, and 1 to 3 young are born per lit­ter. Breed­ing sea­son in the wild is un­known. (IUCN, 1996; Sil­veira, 1995)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• viviparous

• Breeding season

  Breeding occurs from April to July in pampas cats held in captivity in the Northern Hemisphere.

As in all mam­mals, the fe­male pro­vides the young with milk. Spe­cific in­for­ma­tion on the parental care of this species is lack­ing, but it is likely that, as with other fe­lids, the young are al­tri­cial. They are prob­a­bly born in a den where they are cared for by their mother until they are able to ac­com­pany her on for­ag­ing trips.

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• female parental care

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Longevity in this species has not been re­ported. How­ever, other felid species of sim­i­lar size typ­i­cally live be­tween 10 and 15 years. (Nowak, 1999)

Be­hav­ior

L. colo­colo is pre­dom­i­nantly noc­tur­nal and ter­res­trial. In the wild in­di­vid­u­als have been ob­served dur­ing the day. Also, it should be noted that a male at Brazil’s Par­que Zoológico de Goiânia was a skilled tree climber, spend­ing most of his rest­ing pe­ri­ods draped over the high­est fork of the tree in his en­clo­sure. Very lit­tle is known about the so­cial struc­ture and com­mu­ni­ca­tion meth­ods of this species. In­di­vid­u­als in cap­tiv­ity have been ob­served erect­ing the crest of long hair along their mid­line from head to tail when ex­cited. (IUCN, 1996; Sil­veira, 1995)

• Key Behaviors
• nocturnal
• motile

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

L. colo­colo preys upon small mam­mals, such as guinea pigs, as well as ground-dwelling birds. It has been ob­served tak­ing pen­guin eggs and chicks from nests. Pam­pas cats are known to take poul­try in areas of human pop­u­la­tion. (IUCN, 1996; Sil­veira, 1995; Gar­man, 1997)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates
  • eats eggs

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• eggs

Pre­da­tion

This species is poorly known, so in­for­ma­tion on pre­da­tion and pos­si­ble anti-preda­tor adap­ta­tions is not avail­able.

Ecosys­tem Roles

As a preda­tor, L. colo­colo prob­a­bly in­flu­ences the pop­u­la­tion sizes of prey species.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

L. colo­colo was for­merly hunted across its range for its fur. (Gar­man, 1997)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

L. colo­colo has been known to take do­mes­tic poul­try as prey in areas where it lives near human habi­ta­tion. (Gar­man, 1997)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

L. colo­colo is listed in CITES Ap­pen­dix 2. Habi­tat de­struc­tion across their range is the major threat to this species. The pam­pas re­gions of Ar­gentina and Uruguay have been heav­ily set­tled and grazed, which is sus­pected to have had a neg­a­tive im­pact on pam­pas cat pop­u­la­tions. Re­duc­tion of the prey base of L. colo­colo is also a prob­lem.

Trade of pam­pas cat pelts was ended in 1987. This species is listed as an en­dan­gered by the In­sti­tuto Brasileiro do Meio Am­bi­ente e Re­cur­sos Nat­u­rais Renov·veis. L. colo­colo is con­sid­ered a rare species ac­cord­ing to the rar­ity clas­si­fi­ca­tion of Ra­bi­nowitz, be­cause it is found in a wide­spread ge­o­graphic range, is a habi­tat spe­cial­ist, and oc­curs at low pop­u­la­tion den­si­ties.

(IUCN,1996; Gar­man, 1997)

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Near Threatened
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

Other Com­ments

De­spite its wide ge­o­graphic range, very lit­tle is known about L. colo­colo. So­cial and re­pro­duc­tive char­ac­ter­is­tics in the wild are un­known. Very few of these cats are in cap­tiv­ity.

A tax­o­nomic study of 96 mu­seum spec­i­mens has led to the sug­ges­tion that Leop­ar­dus colo­colo may in fact be three sep­a­rate species. These three species are Leop­ar­dus pa­jeros (in the high Andes from the Equa­tor to Patag­o­nia and through­out Ar­gentina), Leop­ar­dus brac­ca­tus (Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay), and Leop­ar­dus colo­colo (Chile). (Wildlife On Easy Street, 2003)

Con­trib­u­tors

Rachel Golden (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point, Chris Yahnke (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin-Stevens Point.

Ref­er­ences

Gar­man, A. 1997. "Big Cats On­line: Pam­pas Cat (On­cife­lis colo­colo)" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 25, 2001 at http://​dialspace.​dial.​pipex.​com/​agarman/​pampas.​htm.

IUCN - The World Con­ser­va­tion Union, 1996. "Cat Spe­cial­ist Group Species Ac­counts: Pam­pas Cat (*On­cife­lis colo­colo*)" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 25, 2001 at http://​lynx.​uio.​no/​lynx/​catfolk/​pampas01.​htm.

Romo, MC, 1995. Food habits of the An­dean fox (*Pseudalopex cul­paeus*) and notes on the mount­ian cat (*Felis colo­colo*) and puma (*Felis con­color*) in the Rio Abiseo Na­tional Park, Peru. Mam­malia, v.59 n.3: 335.

Sil­veira, L, 1995. Notes on the dis­tri­b­u­tion and nat­ural his­tory of the pam­pas cat, *Felis colo­colo*, in Brazil. Mam­malia, v.59 n.2: 284.

Wildlife On Easy Street, 2003. "Pam­pas Cat" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 25, 2001 at http://​www.​wildlifeeasyst.​com/​pampas_​cat.​htm.