Talk:Margay

Descending head first

The article on clouded leopard claims that species is the only one of the bigger cats capable of climbing down a tree trunk head first - that statement works with a similar capability for the margay, but saying the margay is the only cat capable of it doesn't work. // OlofE 03:07, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Actually I misrembered, clouded leopard article doesn't make any claim on being the only species in that way at all. Anyway. Margay article doesn't quite work. // OlofE 03:08, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Ny late Norwegian forrest cat did it all the time. I know it says 'no original research', and my own studies of my late Findus not being emperical, it does at least challenge the facts as stated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.162.53.42 (talk) 08:47, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

We are doing a report

My first grader has a question that I cannot find the answer to.. What is the Margays enemies? Please help!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.0.33.12 (talk • contribs).

Talk pages are for discussing the improvement of the article. If we had the information you are seeking, don't you think it would already be in the article? - UtherSRG (talk) 01:14, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Weighs HOW much?

The article says margays weigh 2-3kg... there's no way that can be right, a housecat is smaller and weighs much more than that. This information seems to come from http://www.abf90.dial.pipex.com/margay.htm. http://www.bigcatrescue.org/margay.htm gives a weight of 9-20 lbs (4-9 kg) which still seems on the low side but is far more believable than 2-3 kg. 67.175.151.78 04:59, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Animal Diversity Web supports the smaller and lighter data. - UtherSRG (talk) 10:52, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

head first decline

" Indeed, it is one of only two cat species with the ankle flexibility necessary to climb head-first down trees (the other being the Clouded Leopard)."

from jungle cat: "The most distinctive feature of a jungle cat are equal-sized claws on both fore and hind legs ... which allow it to climb down trees as easily as up, with its head facing downward."

one of them has to be false.· Lygophile has spoken 14:44, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Vocal mimicing to attract prey

This article about South American cats was so startling and surprising I came directly to wikipedia to read up on margays.

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/environment_sciences/wildlife_conservation_society_finds_wild_cat_157830.html

They then observed a margay emitting calls similar to those made by tamarin babies. This attracted the attention of a tamarin "sentinel," which climbed down from the tree to investigate the sounds coming from a tangle of vines called lianas.

585ad205105278a06716f2ebe4c82c92 (talk) 20:38, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Margay. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100613150457/http://www.primate-sg.org/PDF/NP16.1.pdf to http://www.primate-sg.org/PDF/NP16.1.pdf
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100613150457/http://www.primate-sg.org/PDF/NP16.1.pdf to http://www.primate-sg.org/PDF/NP16.1.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 07:31, 2 June 2017 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:

• Margay-head.jpg

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:52, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

Cane rats?

However, margays do sometimes hunt on the ground, and have been reported to eat terrestrial prey, such as cane rats

Cane rats and margays are native to different continents as far as I understand so there might be an error here. 86.60.191.44 (talk) 18:39, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Comparative Vertebrate Zoology

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation–supported course assignment, between 18 August 2026 and 1 December 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mangoshark1428 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Sunsh1n3J1nx0503, Mushroomluver.

— Assignment last updated by Mushroomluver (talk) 18:36, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Tilcayo Images

Why are there photos of the Tilcayo Tiger Cat with the caption saying 'Margay' DannyHandyman (talk) 18:53, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Tiger cat

I added "tiger cat" as an alternative name and this was reverted User:BhagyaMani with the explanation that this does not belong on in the lead. This is contrary to MOS:LEADALT and the common practice of listing alternative names in the lead. This is similar to the approach taken in the articles for the other tiger cats: tilcayo, oncilla, clouded tiger cat, and Leopardus guttulus, not to mention thousands of other articles. Occasionally, when the animal has a large number of alternative names or where the terminology warrants discussion, these are placed elsewhere in the article. Even in an article like Cougar, we list multiple names in the lead while still having a dedicated § Naming and etymology. I see no basis to take a different approach for margay by excluding an attested name from the lead. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 17:03, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

The margay does not have the generally used common name "tiger cat", not in any scientific or popular article. The only alternative name listed in the IUCN Red List account is "tree ocelot" in English, but even this is not commonly used. – BhagyaMani (talk) 17:39, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, that's a much more helpful explanation. I originally sourced tiger cat to The Belize Zoo. It is also recorded in Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com, which are authoritative for general usage. I found several sources that attest long-tailed tiger cat as an older name for the species or as (part of) the vernacular name for certain subspecies. Sources for long-tailed tiger cat include US Fish & Wildlife Service, Feline Conservation Foundation, and Integrated Taxonomic Information System. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 17:57, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

I challenge you to read the 26 references listed in this article itself. Does any of those refer to a different name than "margay" for this cat? – BhagyaMani (talk) 18:03, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

This seems to be moving the goalpost. Is there a reason to reject these other sources? The "tiger cat" terminology is surely ambiguous and historical and present day identification and classification is in flux. I'm not disputing that widespread usage of a vernacular name in the literature makes the strongest cast but it's not clear what basis we have to reject names that are identified in standard English dictionaries and US government taxonomic databases. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 18:25, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

This page was created 23.5 years ago, and no editor to this page in all those years insisted that this cat has another common name. Not even the Sunquists in their 2002 book referred to any other. But you are the first with your very first edit on this page. Please follow up the link to common name to better understand this term. – BhagyaMani (talk) 19:44, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

More invented standards—now the page can only be edited by certain editors or the name must appear in a particular source from 2002. I am familiar with common names. Perhaps § Local names could be retitled to cover these other attested names, including historical descriptions. Any description can be brief but sufficiently detailed so as to include the common name tree ocelot and so as not to mislead readers as to the predominance of other names, and to acknowledge the ambiguity surrounding tiger cat. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 20:02, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

And I object to your characterization that I am "insisting" on anything. I have engaged in good faith with your objections, which keep changing. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 21:01, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

I suspect all, or nearly all, the South American "spotted" cats were called tiger cats at some time. This suggests that the margay was originally described or referred to as a “long-tailed tiger-cat”.  —  Jts1882 | talk  19:31, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Indeed, this is consistent with my findings, both with respect to the generic (and ambiguous) use of tiger cat and names for the margay in particular. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 19:48, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your comment. How old is that description ? And has this been used so often to justify this being a "common name" of the margay? BhagyaMani (talk) 19:49, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied died in 1867. It was from a specimen in his collection that the margay was described. The Mammalian Species article says it has 23 common names across its range.  —  Jts1882 | talk  07:00, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

Ref 19 from the article describes F. weidii and F. glaucula as being among the Mexican and Central-American tiger-cats. Unfortunately I'm not able to access the full text of Ref 23 but it appears that "long-tailed tiger cat" is used in this publication. —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 23:30, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Ref 23 describes two subspecies of Felis glaucula, a name once used for Mexican subspecies of margays. These are Felis glaucula oaxacensis (Oaxaca Long-tailed Tiger Cat) and Felis glaucula yucatanica (Yucatan Long-tailed Tiger Cat). So it looks like Long-tailed Tiger Cat was once used for the Margay, but how recently? It may be of only historically interest. It could be added to the lead by ending the list of common names with "and historically Long-tailed Tiger Cat". Alternatively it may be better elsewhere in the article.  —  Jts1882 | talk  07:00, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

Ref 19 is Thomas (1903) who used this to describe the similarity of 2 species 120+ years ago. And has this been used consistently since then to justify this being a "common name" of the margay? BhagyaMani (talk) 07:01, 29 September 2026 (UTC), amended BhagyaMani (talk) 07:08, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

The US Federal Wildlife Service uses the common names for the two subspecies described by Nelson & Goldman (1931). ITIS also uses it for the two subspecies (oaxacensis and yucatanica), although not for Leopardus wiedii glauculus to which it synonymised these subspecies names. All these records seem to refer to Nelson & Goldman, so how much it was used elsewhere is unclear. It appears quite often in 19th century museum collections under Felis macroura (e.g. NYPL and British Museum.  —  Jts1882 | talk  08:55, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

I've modified the taxonomy section to mention that von Wied called the cat he described the long-tailed tiger cat. If we can't source more recent usage, this will show historical use and it can be omitted from the lede. Incidentally, there is a timeline issue. Schinz named his cat after von Wied, but von Wied described it later.  —  Jts1882 | talk  11:13, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

I recall to have read that Wied did describe the cat, but without giving it a Latin name, and his travel memoirs were published later than Schinz' formal description and Latin naming of Wied's zoological specimen. After all, Schinz did refer to Wied having "discovered" the cat. BhagyaMani (talk) 12:05, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

Re historical use ... can be omitted from the lede: I agree and consider this solved now. And you, Jts1882 ? BhagyaMani (talk) 12:15, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

This is a good way to cover this. Thank you for engaging with the sourcing and in the discussion! —Myceteae‍🍄‍🟫 (talk) 15:52, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

References