COMPASSION

Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life
with reverence in order to give it true value.
— Albert Schweitzer

10/29/2014

My Pet Ocelot


This article talks about a time period when many people kept exotic pets like chimpanzees.

.....................................
1961
My Pet Ocelot
Montezuma, 


Si and Meg Merrill's Manhattan margay.
by Chris Wild


IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES



IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES


IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES


Photographer Al Fenn Visited the Manhattan apartment home of Si and Meg Merrill. Fenn was on assignment for LIFE magazine to do a photo essay on living with an ocelot. More correctly a tree ocelot, also known as a margay, a smaller, lighter, tree-dwelling cousin of the true ocelot.


The Merrills had bought "Montezuma" - or Monte - a little over a year before as a kitten. Exotic pets, like leopards, chimpanzees, other monkey species and kangaroos, were very popular in the 1960s

Monte's diet consisted of beef or turkey heart with the addition of a little watercress.


IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Margays eat grass and other vegetation in the wild. They also hunt and eat small mammals and birds.

The margay's natural habitat is the dense forests of Central and South America. They are agile tree climbers and can grasp branches equally efficiently with both front and hind paws.

They can also jump up to 12 feet (3.7 m) horizontally.

The margay has been listed as "Near Threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 2008 because remaining populations are thought to be declining due to loss of habitat from deforestation.


IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES




IMAGE: AL FENN/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
By 1971, the tide was turning against owning exotic pets and LIFE Magazine visited Mrs. Merrill again. She told the reporter that "for all the lack of freedom you have by owning them, and for all the lack of freedom they have by being owned by you, you might as well make them into fur coats."

Mrs. Merrill used her knowledge about margays to write two books about the exotic pets,
including "Know Your Ocelots and Margays."




Margay (Leopardus wiedii)

The margay (Leopardus wiedii) is a small cat native to Central and South America that is listed as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN since 2008 because remaining populations are thought to be declining due to loss of habitat following conversion of forests.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margay
Chris Wild is the Author of "Retronaut: the Photographic Time Machine",
 published by National Geographic

Source: http://mashable.com/2014/10/25/living-with-an-ocelot-in-a-manhattan-apartment/?utm_cid=lf-toc


No comments:

Post a Comment