Back in June, a rare sight was seen in Arizona. An ocelot, a wild cat that is spotted in a similar way to a cheetah or a leopard, was spotted in Southern Arizona. An ocelot has not been seen in the state for over 50 years, at least not according to reports. This rare sighting was extremely exciting to many as the sighting could be considered a once in a lifetime event. Now in August, there is video evidence of the Ocelot sighting. In April, the Phoenix Zoo Atascosa Complex Wildlife Study set up field cameras all around the Coronado National Forest Nogales Ranger District. Just a few days ago, the cameras recorded the ocelot on the move late at night.

Ocelots are on the endangered species list and have been since 1972.

After the sighting was reported and the video was released, questions of all sorts were raised. How do we know it was the same ocelot both times? How do we know there have not been other sightings in the last 50 years? Lastly, how do we know it was an ocelot at all? To answer this last question, experts were able to tell it was an ocelot from its sightings due to body. The animal is the right size to be an ocelot, typically considered a medium sized cat, with spots matching ocelot spots.

The average ocelot is about twice the size of the average house cat but far smaller than any other wild cat, making it more distinguishable. Furthermore, ocelots are nocturnal, and the timing of the video spotting aligns with that behavior. Lastly, despite their endangerment, ocelots are native to the southern United States and Mexico, making Arizona a great place for them to be.

To answer the other two big questions, we have to simply guess.

With regard to the two sightings being the same ocelot, we cannot really say for certain they were. However, given the amount of time these animals have gone unseen, it is likely that we only see one out right now. If they were two different ocelots though, we could expect to have more spottings soon. As for the final question asking about other possible sightings, all experts can go based off of only what records have to offer. No sighting of an ocelot has been reported for the last 50 years, prior to this one, which leads analysts to only draw the conclusion that they have not been spotted at all across that time.