Puma yagouaroundi

The jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) (/ˌʒæɡwəˈrʌndi/ ZHAG-wə-RUN-dee) or eyra is a small wild cat native to southern North America and South America. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002. The megareserves of the Amazon Basin are probably the only conservation units that can sustain long-term viable populations. In some Spanish-speaking countries, the jaguarundi is also called gato colorado, gato moro, león brenero, tigrillo, and leoncillo. The Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation of its common English and Portuguese name is . It is also called gato-mourisco, eirá, gato-preto, and maracajá-preto in Portuguese. Jaguarundi comes from Old Tupi yawaum'di. The jaguarundi has short legs, an elongated body, and a long tail. The ears are short and rounded. The coat is without spots, uniform in color, with, at most, a few faint markings on the face and underside. The coat can be either blackish to brownish-grey (grey morph) or foxy red to chestnut (red morph); individuals of both morphs can be born in the same litter. It has a length of 53 to 77 centimetres (21 to 30 inches) with a 31-to-60 cm-long tail (12-to-24 in), and weighs 3.5 to 9.1 kilograms (7.7 to 20.1 lb). The two color morphs were once thought to represent two distinct species: the grey one was called the jaguarundi and the red one was called the eyra. The jaguarundi occurs from southern Texas and coastal Mexico in the north, through Central and South America east of the Andes, and as far south as northern Argentina. In 2015, it has also been recorded in Cerro Largo, Uruguay.Its habitat is lowland brush areas close to a source of running water, including dry thorn forest to wet grassland. While commonly inhabiting lowlands, it has been reported at elevations as high as 3,200 m (10,500 ft). Occasionally it also occurs in dense tropical areas. Jaguarundis have been sighted in Florida since the early 20th century. Here, the species is assumed to have been introduced, but it is not known when the introduction occurred. Their presence in Florida is attributed to a writer from Chiefland who at some point imported the animals from their native habitat and released them near his hometown and in other locations across the state. No live or dead specimens are known, but many sightings considered credible by biologists have been reported. The earliest of these occurred in 1907, and was followed by various additional sightings throughout the Florida Peninsula from the 1930s through the 1950s. The first official report was released in 1942. Significantly fewer reliable sightings were reported after that, and in 1977 W. T. Neill concluded the population had declined. However, sightings have continued. Jaguarundis have also been reported in the coastal area of Alabama since the 1980s, which may be evidence of the Florida population migrating northward. The jaguarundi has also been sighted around the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Prior to 2017, the following subspecies were recognised: