[Aztlan] "Tiger Cat"

[Jaime Andres Pretell]

The names have been used interchangeably
> 
>> From: chunchucmil at yahoo.com
>> For those who received Jules' email encoded...
>> 
>> "Jules Siegel"  wrote:
>> 
>> Maybe it was a margay, Felis (Leopardus) wiedi Schinz: "Sometimes called the long-tailed spotted cat, the name margay is an anglicised version of "marguey" which translates as "tiger cat".  It is also referred to as the little or tree ocelot." http://members.aol.com/cattrust/margay.htm
>> 
>> -------------------------------------
>> 
>> [Additional note from David Hixson: I would concur with Jules that this may be Felis wiedii, known affectionately in Yucatan as a "tigrillo".]

 I grew up in Peru and lived some time in Pucalpa, in the Amazon and I had a pet tigrillo named Reyna. She was definitely an ocelot (leopardus pardalis). Tigrillo is also used by many places for the oncilla (probably meaning little ocelot?) or tiger vat (leopardus tigrinus). But it would not surprise me at all that margay or tree ocelot (leopardus weidi) was also refered to as tigrillo. Margay actually comes from Portuguese margaia which comes from Tupi-Guarani mbaragaya which just means forest cat. There are no tigers in the Americas so it couldn't translate into tiger cat. Tiger cat is probably derived from tigrillo.


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