We say closely \u2013 it diverged from the same branch as the puma<\/a> somewhere between 4 to 7 million years ago, and since then, they\u2019ve clearly taken quite different directions when it comes to appearances, even if they\u2019re linked genetically.<\/p>\n The jaguarundi doesn\u2019t particularly look like its relatives \u2013 in fact, it doesn\u2019t look much like a cat at all. It might be only a little bigger<\/a> than a house cat, but the jaguarundi has an elongated body and tail, short legs, and a small, flat head that makes it look more like an otter<\/a> or a weasel. In some places, it\u2019s even known as the \u201cotter cat<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just in appearance that they share similarities with otters either. The stereotype might be that cats dislike water, but these particular felines are thought to be pretty adept swimmers<\/a>, having been seen heading into ponds to catch a fish supper.<\/p>\n Jaguarundis come in two main color morphs.<\/p>\n Image credit: Janusz Pienkowski\/Shutterstock.com<\/p>\n But beyond their strange exterior, there\u2019s actually still a lot we don\u2019t know about the jaguarundi. That might seem unusual given that they have a range that totals 19 countries, extending all the way from Mexico down to northern Argentina; they\u2019re one of the most commonly seen<\/a> cats across that area.<\/p>\n However, as Ruth Kamnitzer explains for Mongabay<\/a>, there are three main reasons why this is the case: they\u2019re hard to trap; it\u2019s difficult to identify individuals because they have plain coats, without any markings; and they\u2019re considered to be a species of \u201cLeast Concern\u201d by the IUCN<\/a>, meaning they usually aren\u2019t a research priority.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be clear, you will never convince anyone to give you money to study the jaguarundi,\u201d conservation biologist Anthony Giordano told Kamnitzer.<\/p>\n That may well need to change. The IUCN\u2019s current assessment of the species is marked as needing an update, something that will require a decent chunk of research in order to make sure the jaguarundi\u2019s conservation status is accurate.<\/p>\n It might currently be low on the priority list, but the jaguarundi still faces threats, including habitat loss and fragmentation, and being killed for predating on poultry. If not for lack of data, the species might\u2019ve been listed as \u201cNear Threatened\u201d last time around.<\/p>\n Whether or not the jaguarundi\u2019s status will change with the impending result of the IUCN\u2019s reassessment is yet to be seen, but what is clear is that this far-out felid is very much worthy of our attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What does a cat look like? You\u2019ve probably got a pretty good idea: big teeth, murder mittens, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-10482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114737861251883706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/shutterstock_1212931666.jpg\" "\\"Two")
<\/p>\n