Russia Blames South Korea for Tension, Calls for Diplomacy

Russia's Foreign Ministry accused South Korea on Monday of boosting tension in its relations with the Communist North and called for diplomacy in restoring calm and security on the Korean peninsula.

"Such acts are a blatant encroachment on (North Korea's) sovereignty and internal affairs with the aim of destroying its legal state and political framework and denying it the right to its own development".

Interfax news agency said Putin on Monday submitted to the State Duma lower house of parliament a text on ratifying a treaty on strategic partnership with North Korea. It said the text provided for each side to provide military assistance in the event of an armed attack on the other.

Margay

Tree ocelot; long tailed spotted cat

KINGDOM
Animalia
PHYLUM
Chordata
SUBPHYLUM
Vertebrata
CLASS
Mammalia
ORDER
Carnivora
SUBORDER
Feliformia
FAMILY
Felidae
SUBFAMILY
Felinae
GENUS
Leopardus
SPECIES
Leopardus wiedii
POPULATION SIZE
UNKNOWN
LIFE SPAN
10-20 YEARS
WEIGHT
2.6-4
KGLBS
KG LBS

The margay (Leopardus wiedii) is a small wild cat native to Central and South America. Until the 1990s, margays were hunted illegally for the wildlife trade, which resulted in a large population decrease.

Appearance

The margay is very similar to the larger ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in appearance, although the head is a little shorter, the eyes larger, and the tail and legs longer. Its fur is brown and marked with numerous rows of dark brown or black rosettes and longitudinal streaks. The undersides are paler, ranging from buff to white, and the tail has numerous dark bands and a black tip. The backs of the ears are black with circular white markings in the centre.

The margay lives in northern Mexico, Central America, and South America, east of the Andes mountains, and as far to the south as Uruguay and northern Argentina. Although reported occasionally outside forested areas, like shaded coffee or cocoa plantations, this wild cat is associated more strongly with forest habitat than other tropical American cats. It inhabits almost exclusively dense forests, ranging from tropical evergreen forests to tropical dry forests and high cloud forests.

Habits and Lifestyle

The margay is a solitary and primarily nocturnal animal. In southern Brazil, however, it has been recorded as being active during the day as well. It is an agile and excellent climber and is able to descend headfirst from a tree or hang by one hind foot from a branch. It mainly rests and sleeps in trees, making its nests in hollows, and is regarded as being more arboreal and better adapted to living in trees than other species of cat. Nevertheless, margays hunt and travel mostly while on the ground. Margays, like most cats, are territorial. Their home ranges to some extent may overlap, but individual animals keep their distance from one another. They mark their territory with urine and secretions that come from scent glands between their toes and on their faces. Males have additional glands on their tails for this purpose.

Diet and Nutrition

Margays are carnivores and eat a wide variety of prey, including both terrestrial and arboreal mammals, birds, birds’ eggs, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, and fruit.

Margays are serially monogamous animals, forming temporary pair bonds during the mating season. After mating, these pairs may stay together throughout the breeding season, sometimes even hunting together. Males leave before the birth of the kittens and do not help to rear them. The natural mating season goes from October to January, though it may be year-round in the deep tropics. After a gestation of 76-85 days, the young are born, either one or two. The kittens open their eyes when they are about 2 weeks old, and begin to go outside the den at around 5 weeks old. Weaning occurs at about 8 weeks, but the kittens take nearly a year to attain their full adult size and usually do not start breeding until the age of 2 to 3. Females are thought to give birth once every two years only.

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