Geoffroy's Cat

Geoffroy's Cat

Common Name - Geoffroy's Cat

Order - Carnivora

Family - Felidae

Genus - Oncifelis

Species - Geoffroyi

Weight: 4 to 12 pounds

Range: Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay

Habitat: Grasslands, rocky areas, open scrub, woodlands

Reproduction: 1 to 4 kittens born after 72 - 78 day gestation. Sexual maturity as early as 9 months in captivity has been documented, but usually reproduction is not before 18 to 24 months.

Coloring : Coat back round color ranges from pale tan, or brilliant ochre, to silvery gray with numerous solid black spots throughout the body. Spots range in size from very small dots to upwards of dime-sized, and coat patterns can form rosettes. Body is well proportioned, with a tail nearly the length of the body. In addition to the spotted form, geoffroy's cats may also be melanistic.

Natural History: These cats inhabit a wide variety of habitat types, from pampas grasslands in both plains and foothills, rocky shrub covered terrain, arid woodlands and the alpine salt desert of Argentina. However, they are not found in either the tropical rain forests or southern broad leaved forests. They tend to avoid open areas, preferring dense scrubby vegetation. Geoffroy's cats have been found between sea level and 3,300 meters in Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. They can be encountered in the foothills of the

Patagonian Andes, but not in the conifer forests. Geoffroy's cats are mainly terrestrial, but are also good climbers and swimmers, having been seen crossing rivers by native people. They are largely nocturnal, having been sited sleeping in trees or dense vegetation during the day. Over 93% of Geoffroy's cat scat collected during a scientific study of this species were found in the crooks of trees. Their prey includes birds and small mammals such as mice, rats, guinea pigs and agoutis, frogs, fish, lizards and insects, and feral European hares.

Home Range: Radio telemetry studies have shown the average home range size of five adult males was 9.21 square km. One female had a home range of 5.16 square km, while another was 2.33 square km. Female ranges overlapped, while those of the males did not. Density was estimated at 1.2 individuals per 10 square km in prime habitat

Reproduction: Gestation is approximately 72 - 78 days, with one to four young being born annually in a well protected den between rocks, or in dense shrub. Birth weight is 60 - 100 grams. The kittens are weaned about eight to ten weeks. Females are sexually mature around 18 months and males about 24 months, though captive specimens have been known to conceive as young as 9 months of age. Captive specimens have lived over 20 years, and successful conception has occurred in captive female cats over 12 years of age, and males over 14 years of age.

Adaptability: Geoffroy's cat are versatile, that is why they can adapt to human presence better than other small cat species in South America. Rather than flee from disturbed areas, they seek them out and take advantage of the lack of competition from other species. They are easily trapped and tamed, and many natives keep them as

pets and rodent control agents. In some areas, they are considered a threat to domestic poultry and shot on sight. In other areas, they are considered a culinary item.

Status in Nature: This species has been exploited commercially since the international cat skin trade boomed in the late 1960s, with nearly 350,000 skins exported from Argentina alone between 1976 and 1979. Trade volumes remained high into the 1980s as trade in ocelot pelts declined, averaging 55,000 per year between 1980-1984. Because of this high volume of trade in Geoffroy's Cat pelts for the fur market, the range counties petitioned CITES to increase it's protection, and in 1992, the Geoffroy's cat was upgraded to CITES I protection, essentially stopping all export of wild specimens.

Captive Status: manage their captive populations into extinction. This is due to the limited cage space available for small cat species. Currently only a handful, less then 5 Geoffroy's Cats are found in any of these AZA zoos

The current living North American captive population is estimated to be in the low 100's with 100 individuals located so far. While the results of the initial survey of the captive genetic The Felid Taxon Advisory Group has recommended that American Zoological Association member zoos base within North America shows promise, this species is in need of careful, selective management. The captive breeding population located by the Species Coordinator is held mainly by seven private facilities, of which 5 are actively involved in some aspect of a breeding program.

The captive population located consists of offspring from Sacramento Zoo, 8 individuals imported from European collections in the past decade by Len Davidson, Kevin Chambers, and Gordon Blankstein, the offspring from these felines, as well as decendents which trace back to wild caught specimens imported into the US in the late 70's, as well as more recent South American imports by Jack Spears in the early 1990's.

Unfortunately, examination the European studbook records revealed the 3 female English imports held by the Geoffroy's Cat Species Coordinator are actually 12 years of age and the male is 14 years of age. Two of these females have been observed breeding. This fact illustrated the importance of record keeping to help the management of a species in captivity.

One wild-caught female was located earlier this year by the Species Coordinator and transferred to a breeding facility with a proven success record. This 10 year old female never produced offspring at it's former location, but she has been matched up with a younger male at the current facility and breeding activity has been observed.

Dr. William Swanson, of the Cincinnati Zoo, also is holding a limited amount of frozen semen collected from wild Geoffroy's cats in South America that could add founders to the genetic base. It is hoped that some SES members can play a cooperative role in putting together a group of specimens to aid this research.

Efforts to document the genetics of the current living population has been underway since December of 2001. Several former successful breeding facilities have cooperated with the Species Coordinator in providing back round genetic information to paint an accurate picture of the size and range of our current captive gene pool. Other facilities have been of limited assistance, due to poor record keeping and this reality creates management challenges ahead.

What has been determined so far, is that many goeffroy's in the private sector captive population trace back to a single male who was born at the Sacramento Zoo, and who's pedigree is one of the most represented lines documented in the original Geoffroy's Cat studbook, published in 1999. This particular male was bred to several wild caught females at one facility and offspring from these matings found their way into three other established geoffroy's cat breeding facilities in the early 1990's, where this bloodline was mixed with different and unrelated bloodlines. Descendents of this male named Sampson, originally of the Sacramento Zoo, are now the most represented line in private sector captivity, being found in 6 out of the 7 earlier referenced breeding facilities.

The ability of private holders to expand their holding space and the possibilities of adding new holders greatly enhances the outlook for maintaining a self-sustaining North American captive population. Careful expansion the current captive population with emphasis on maximizing gene pool diversity is the primary focus of the geoffroy's cat MAC at this point in time. Eight litters of geoffroy's born at 4 different facilities have been reported this year.

Future: Determining the best route for the long-term health of this feline species involves the question of how best to manage the captive gene pool, and considering the small size of captive population mangment by sub-species delineation is not a viable option. This opinion is further supported by the July 15, 1999 paper published in Molecular Ecology, entitled Disparate phylogeographic patterns of molecular genetic variation in four closely related South American small cat species . The study involved the Kodkod, Pampas Cat, Geoffroy's Cat and Oncilla, and was performed by Dr. Warren Johnson and Dr. Stephen O' Brian at the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, as well as others. They collected tissue samples from these four species of small cats and compared them for genetic distance estimates comparable to interspecific values between other ocelot lineage species. In this study, several commonly accepted subspecies partitions were affirmed for L. colocolo, (pampas cat) but not for Oncifelis geoffroyi (Geoffroy's Cat) The following statement is found under the heading of "Implications for taxonomy and conservation of genetic variation, " . . . we failed to affirm the hypothesis that there are four subspecies of O. geoffroyi, which appears to have had no recent, significant barriers to gene flow and little geographical subdivision".

Issues which will affect the survival of the Geoffroy's Cat in captivity include not only potential genetic diversity loss due to improper pairings, but also, removal of genetically important individuals from the breeding program. Domestic cat breeders have developed a hybrid feline by crossing Geoffroy's cats with a variety of domestic cat breeds to produce a hybrid known as a Safari cat. This ponts out the need for a comprehensive understanding of the living geoffroy's cat demographics so that the potential impacts to the geoffroy's cat gene pool can be better understood and Geoffroy's Cats who's genetic make up is significantly important for breeding are not removed from the SES program for such purposes, or for educational exhibits or companion animal reasons.