Ocelots, about twice the size of a house cat, are considered by many to be the most beautiful of all animals. They have pretty faces with long, white whiskers and small, upright ears pointing forward. Most are whitish or a tawny yellow, but the fur may also be reddish or dark gray. Whatever their color, they are always spotted with beautiful black markings over their entire body.
These decorative spots are in a variety of shapes, usually round, but sometimes oval or connected in chainlike streaks. Tails may be ringed or marked with dark bars, but the under-surface will be white, as is the inside of their legs. Strangely, markings on one side may differ from those on the other, and no two ocelots are ever marked the same way.
These are tropical animals, at home in the marshy areas or riverbeds of the humid jungles of Central America, as well as in the thick brush of Texas and Arizona, and as far south as Argentina in South America.
Active during the night, most ocelots sleep on tree limbs, or curl up inside a hollow tree or in the shade of dense bushes during daylight hours. Wherever possible they make their homes in trees and walk silently along the branches surrounding them.
In some areas their favorite food is monkey meat. They sometimes play dead to attract a monkey, then suddenly pounce on it. If monkeys are not available, they annoy farmers by going after lambs, young pigs or rabbits, but their diet also includes rats, mice, birds, snakes and lizards. Rather than chase their victims, they drop on them from a tree limb or silently stalk them through the woods or brush.
In past years the beautiful furs of these animals have been their downfall, as hunters have trapped and killed them in great numbers. This is now against the law, although there are always some who disregard this fact and kill them anyway.
The spotted coats of ocelots are an indication of the Creator's care over them, providing effective camouflage in the light and shadows of their home areas. They, of course, know nothing of the Creator's care, but as the Bible verse at the beginning of this article indicates, there is no creature, no matter how small or how large, how beautiful or how plain, that is not an object of His mercies and kindness.
But there is another Bible verse that every boy and girl, as well as every adult, may claim: "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" Psa. 139:1717How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17). Have you thanked Him for those precious thoughts?