In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense against the medium-sized wildcat.
Luis-Bernardo Vázquez heads a research team at the Urban Ecology Lab, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-SLCL. He’s been studying the wildlife of Cozumel for years using tools ranging from camera traps to transects and road surveys.
“Before 2016 we never detected any ocelot in the island,” he said. “Because we had many years of sampling before that with no records, we think the species was not present on the island before that time.”
Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are declining across much of their range, from the U.S. state of Texas all the way to Uruguay. They’re listed as an endangered species in the United States but, ironically, as an unwanted threat on Cozumel.
The presence of an ocelot as an invasive predator on Cozumel Island could be a threat to endemic wildlife like the Cozumel white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus cozumelae), Cozumel harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys spectabilis), Cozumel rice rat (Oryzomys couesi cozumelae), dwarf peccary (Dicotyles tajacu nanus) and Cozumel curassow (Crax rubra griscomi).
“A species can be endangered in one place and ecologically damaging in another, and that requires communities to decide what future they want for their island,” David Will of U.S.-based conservation group Island Conservation told Mongabay. “Cozumel’s ocelot shows how conservation isn’t just about species, it’s about values. The real challenge isn’t the cat; it’s navigating competing conservation priorities in a rapidly changing world.”
Vásquez said he believes the ocelot likely wound up on the island as a result of human activities. “It could be an animal that escaped or was released from captivity. In southern Mexico sometimes wild felids are kept illegally as pets or used in tourism attractions, so this is one possible explanation,” he said.
Although only one ocelot has been detected on Cozumel, the researchers are concerned that it could establish a breeding population if other ocelots join it on the island. Other introduced predators like margays (Leopardus wiedii) and boa constrictors (Boa constrictor) have already established breeding populations on Cozumel and are threats to the island’s endemic fauna.
“Cozumel has many endemic animals and historically had very few predators, so the introduction of new carnivores can create conservation problems,” Vásquez said. “For this reason, we think it is important to continue monitoring and prevent new introductions in the future.”
Banner image: An ocelot stalking prey in Colombia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
