Oncilla
Leopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775)
The oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus) is a mammal of the family Felidae, subfamily Felinae, in the order Carnivora. It is a medium-sized carnivore with a representative adult body mass of 2.25 kg, and its lifestyle is scansorial with a cathemeral activity pattern.
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Quick facts about the oncilla
Gestation lasts from 74 to 76 days, with a representative value of 75.7 days, and the sheet gives a litter size of 1.5 young. The IUCN Red List classifies the oncilla as Vulnerable, a threatened category, and sources report lifespans of up to 21.9 years.
- Weight
- 2.25 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 21.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 74 days – 76 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Scansorialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the oncilla
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the oncilla live?
Not recorded
What is the oncilla?
The oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus), also known as the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo, is a small spotted cat ranging from Central America to central Brazil. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the population is threatened by deforestation and conversion of habitat to agricultural land.
In 2013, it was proposed to assign the oncilla populations in southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina to a new species, the southern tiger cat (L. guttulus), after it was found that it does not interbreed with the oncilla population in northeastern Brazil. In 2024, a similar argument was put forth with regards to the Andean montane cloud forest sub-population; for a third species to be recognized, now known as the clouded tiger cat (L. pardinoides). In 2026, a genetic analysis of Leopardus species in South America proposed that the L. tigrinus complex comprised five species, adding the tilcayo (L. tilcayo).
From the Wikipedia article “Oncilla” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oncilla&oldid=1383337813), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the oncilla sound like?
Is the oncilla endangered?
The oncilla is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the oncilla classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusLeopardus
- SpeciesLeopardus tigrinus (Schreber, 1775)
Synonyms Felis tigrinus
Other names and names in other languages (62)
- Little spotted catEnglish
- Little spotted catEnglish
- Little tiger catEnglish
- Little tiger catEnglish
- Northern oncillaEnglish
- Northern tiger catEnglish
- Northern tiger catEnglish
- Northern TigrinaEnglish
- Savanna oncillaEnglish
- Savanna tiger catEnglish
- Savanna tiger-catEnglish
- Tiger catEnglish
- Tiger catEnglish
- TigrinoEnglish
- Noordelike Tier-KatAfrikaans
- أونصيلArabic
- قط أونصيلArabic
- قط النمرArabic
- قط مرقط صغيرArabic
- МаготBulgarian
- ocelot stromovýCzech
- DværgtigerkatDanish
- Nördliche TigerkatzeGerman
- Nördliche OzelotkatzeGerman
- TigerkatzeGerman
- ΤιγρογαλήGreek
- Βόρεια ΤιγρόγαταGreek
- caucelSpanish
- Gato AtigradoSpanish
- gato tigreSpanish
- tigrilloSpanish
- tigrillo lanudoSpanish
- Tigrillo o leopardo tigreSpanish
- TigrinaSpanish
- tiricaSpanish
- onsillaFinnish
- Chat-tachetFrench
- Chat tigre du nordFrench
- Oncille de CayenneFrench
- Oncille du NordFrench
- CunaguaroItalian
- Gatto tigreItalian
- ジャガーネコJapanese
- 호랑고양이Korean
- Nordlig TigerkattNorwegian Bokmål
- TijgerkatDutch
- Amerikaanse TijgerkatDutch
- Ocelot tygrysiPolish
- Maracajá-íPortuguese
- Gato-do-matoPortuguese
- Gato-do-mato-do-nortePortuguese
- Gato-maracajáPortuguese
- Gato-Maracajá-PequenoPortuguese
- Gato-tigrePortuguese
- PintadinhoPortuguese
- ОнциллаRussian
- Amomosrm
- แมวเสือThai
- แมวออนซิลลาเหนือThai
- kaplan kedisiTurkish
- ОнцилаUkrainian
- 小斑虎貓Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the oncilla
Other species in the same genus Leopardus.
Ocelot
Leopardus pardalis
Margay
Leopardus wiedii
Kodkod
Leopardus guigna
Geoffroy's cat
Leopardus geoffroyi
Tilcayo
Leopardus tilcayo
Pampas cat
Leopardus colocola
CompareOncilla vs OcelotOncilla vs MargayOncilla vs KodkodOncilla vs Geoffroy's cat
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the oncilla?
The oncilla is a mammal in the family Felidae, subfamily Felinae, order Carnivora. Its scientific name is Leopardus tigrinus.
How heavy is an oncilla?
The oncilla has a representative adult body mass of 2.25 kg, which places it in the medium size class (1 to 25 kg).
What does the oncilla eat?
The oncilla is a carnivore, both in diet category and trophic level.
Is the oncilla endangered?
The oncilla is listed as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List, which is a threatened category.
How long does an oncilla live?
Sources give a lifespan of 21.79 years for the oncilla, with a highest reported value of 21.9 years.
How many young does an oncilla have?
The sheet gives a litter size of 1.5 young, after a gestation period of 74 to 76 days.
What other names does the oncilla have?
Other English names for the oncilla are Tigrino, Tiger cat, Savanna oncilla, Little tiger cat and Northern oncilla.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/oncilla
“Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/oncilla.
@misc{oncilla_2026,
title = {Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/oncilla},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}