Unique Attributes

                           
                            Photo, used with permission, by Nancy Vandermey

   
    Photo from Microsoft Office clip art

The margay and the squirrel are interlinked in two major ways. The first is quite obvious, the margay consumes the squirrel as part of its diet, thus they are interlinked in the same food web. The second way is not quite so obvious. Not only do margays eat squirrels, but they climb like them too! Both squirrels and margays possess the ability to rotate their rear ankles 180^o, enabling them to climb down a tree headfirst. This attribute is what allows the margay to perform the incredible acrobatics that are so often seen, such as hanging onto branches by one foot and crawling on the underside of a large tree limb. The only other feline that possesses a similar ankle-rotational ability is the clouded leopard of Asia, whose ankles will rotate, but not to the same extremes. As you can see, the margay is truly a master of the trees.

Photo, used with permission, by Nancy

Vandermey

Clouded Leopard Photo, obtained from Wikipedia

       Photo, used with permission, by Nancy

       Vandermey