Colocolo
Colocolo ( Leopardus colocolo )
The Colocolo ( Leopardus colocolo or Oncifelis colocolo ), formerly pampas cat, is a South American species within the cat family ( Felidae ). Until a few years ago it was considered together with the two types Leopardus Pajeros and Leopardus braccatus as a common type.
Features
The Colocolo has a body length of about 70 cm and a tail length of about 30 cm. The shoulder height is approximately 60 cm, the weight of adult cats Pampa is between three kilograms ( in the wild ) and up to seven kilograms ( in captivity ). The color palette of coat colors ranging from black to yellowish to light gray. The coat has some extremely long and leads to a Mane effect that makes the cat appear larger than it really is. From the appearance forth the Pampas cats in the different regions of South America are quite different. This led to the below -mentioned difficulties in classification and also to Artaufteilung.
In their redescription of the species Rosa García- Perea Leopardus colocolo described braccatus in contrast to L. and L. Pajeros mainly on the basis of the skull, teeth and fur features. Leopardus colocolo is the largest of the species with an average head -body length of 55-67 cm and a tail length of 28 to 32 centimeters newly described. It is thus greater than L. braccatus, compared to L. Pajeros it is within the size range.
In dogs, the animals vary between two types that have been described by García- Perea 1994 as Type 1 and 2C. In type 1, the animals have significant rust -brown to cinnamon-colored stripes and lines on the flanks, the ground color is reddish brown or dark gray. Along the backbone of the fur is dunkelrostrot to black, with this color comes from black and rust- red regions of individual hairs. The tail having four to five reddish rings, where the last two are darker. The legs are striped dark brown. In type 2C, the animals are plain gray -white in color to gray- brown, a drawing is not or only indistinctly visible. The legs are striped recognizable.
Dissemination
After the initial assumption of a single species, the distribution area of the pampas cat from the grass plains of southern Brazil extended to Patagonia, but also in the Andean regions of southern and mid- western South America ( south of Ecuador ).
After Artaufteilung only the sub-tropical forest areas in the western area of the Andes in central Chile, and the drier upland steppes apply in northern Chile as a distribution area of Colocolo.
Way of life
The Colocolo is mainly nocturnal. It feeds on small rodents, such as guinea pigs, and smaller ground planes birds. In addition, there are reports of pampas cats, plunder the poultry enclosure.
The Colocolo mates in the period from April to July. A litter has one to three cubs.
Threat and protection
The Colocolo is classified by the IUCN as endangered ( Near Threatened ) and is performed in Appendix B of the Washington Convention.
System
According to García- Perea (1994) and Wilson & Reeder (2005 ) were divided the formerly regarded as a kind of small cats in three ways:
- Leopardus colocolo is large and has lived in Chile on the west side of the Andes.
- Leopardus Pajeros is medium in size and has the largest circulation of Ecuador throughout Argentina to Patagonia.
- Leopardus braccatus is smallest and is found in moist and warm grasslands of Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Discrepancies prevail over the generic affiliation of these species. In the oldest mills they are classified in Felis, recent works they hold with the small patches cat and the Chilean Forest Cat together to the genus Oncifelis. Sometimes it was also in a separate genus, Lynchailurus, like. Wilson and Reeder (2005) eventually led to the genus Leopardus Oncifelis together with the Pardelkatzen.
Johnson et al. 1999 were in a molecular biological investigation of the small cats of South America not understand the Arttrennung. Although they presented within the considered samples of Pampa Cats cluster determined that demonstrate the close relationship regionally close to each other living groups of cats, but this did not coincide with the species that were of García- Perea ( 1994). The tests showed also that it comes between the pampas cat and the tiger cat ( Leopardus tigrinus ) in parts of the distribution area hybrids, so do mate representatives of both types together and juveniles testify.