Margay

Leopardus wiedii

Flexible ankles help this canopy specialist descend trees headfirst.

ConservationNear ThreatenedNT

Relative sizeSmall

ActivityNocturnal

LineageOcelot

Weight2.3–4.9 kg

Body length46–69 cm

Tail length23–52 cm

The cat whose ankles turn the other way

A margay can descend a tree headfirst—and hang by one hind foot.

Large paws, a tail that can reach 70 percent of its body length, and hind feet capable of rotating around 180 degrees give the margay extraordinary control in trees. It can grip with all four feet, reverse down a trunk, and suspend itself while reaching for the next hold.

The surprise is that ‘tree cat’ is only part of the story. Margays rest in trees and possess exceptional climbing skills, yet available evidence suggests much of their traveling and hunting happens on the ground. One wild margay was even observed imitating the call of a pied tamarin while attempting to draw the monkeys closer.

Habitat and range

Where the canopy breaks apart, the margay’s world breaks with it.

Margays range from Mexico through Central and South America to Uruguay and northern Argentina. They are strongly associated with tropical and subtropical forest, including evergreen, seasonal, montane cloud, floodplain, and gallery forests.

They sometimes use disturbed forest, old plantations, and agriculture-forest mosaics when enough tree cover remains. That condition matters: sightings at a plantation edge do not mean the open landscape can replace connected forest.

Tropical forestCloud forestFloodplain forestGallery forestForest mosaics

How it belongs

Built for this particular world.

Ankles built to reverse

A tail made for balance

Eyes for a nocturnal forest

The conservation reality

Exceptional climbing cannot bridge a landscape without trees.

The margay is classified as Near Threatened and is generally uncommon or rare. Forest loss is compounded by low reproductive output, road mortality, illegal trade, and competition or killing by larger ocelots.

Deforestation and forest fragmentation
Conversion to pasture and plantations
Road mortality
Illegal pet and skin trade
Retaliatory killing around poultry
Low reproductive rate and disease outbreaks

What effective work looks like

Keep forests connected from the ground into the canopy.

Margay conservation depends on more than isolated reserves. Forest structure, movement routes, and safer edges determine whether small populations remain connected.

Protect continuous tree cover

Native forest, gallery corridors, and structurally complex regrowth give margays places to rest, hunt, and move.

Study life beyond the climbing myth

Telemetry, camera traps, and demographic research can show how margays divide their time between canopy and ground.

Reduce mortality around fragments

Road planning, poultry protection, trade enforcement, and community response can make forest edges less dangerous.

From hope to participation

Wonder begins in the ankles. Conservation begins with the whole forest.

Zoo-EV will use the margay’s unforgettable movement to open a larger story about connected canopies, viable populations, and the overlooked costs of fragmentation.

Participate in the mission

Scientific sources, review, and image provenance

Scientific review: August 23, 2026. This account will continue to change when stronger evidence or updated specialist assessments become available.

IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group · Margay
CatSG species account · Margay
Image: Clément Bardot · captive · Parc des Félins · France · CC BY-SA 3.0