The wild cat caught on camera in southern Arizona was an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). The Phoenix Zoo recorded it in June 2024 in the Coronado National Forest’s Nogales Ranger District. The “50 years” refers specifically to the Atascosa Highlands: the Zoo called it the area’s first confirmed ocelot sighting in at least five decades, not the first Arizona record in that span.
What kind of wild cat was caught on camera?
It was an ocelot, a spotted wild cat that is historically rare in Arizona. The Phoenix Zoo says a multi-agency review identified the animal as a new individual not previously recorded in Arizona; Arizona Game and Fish Department analysts also supported the identification by comparing its distinctive spot patterns. Phoenix Zoo’s account of the discovery describes that review.
Ocelots can be mistaken for jaguars because both have spotted coats. In an Arizona PBS interview, Phoenix Zoo field research project manager Kinley Ragan explained that an ocelot is considerably smaller than a jaguar. The comparison is useful context, but the identification in this case was based on expert review and pattern analysis, not simply on the appearance of a spotted cat in a video. Arizona PBS’s interview with Ragan includes her explanation.
Where and when was the ocelot recorded?
The cat was filmed in June 2024 in the Atascosa Highlands area of southern Arizona, within the Coronado National Forest’s Nogales Ranger District. The Phoenix Zoo had deployed field cameras in the district beginning in April under a U.S. Forest Service research permit. In July, staff and a volunteer checked 23 of the study’s 50 cameras and reviewed footage; the June ocelot video surfaced during a quick scan.
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The Zoo noted that this animal was recorded in desert scrub and at a lower elevation than most historical Arizona ocelot records. Its broader project used wildlife cameras and acoustic recorders to study wildlife and habitat across the Atascosa Complex. The Zoo says it deployed 50 cameras there from 2024 to 2025; those are monitoring tools and effort figures, not a count of ocelots. More about the project is available on the Phoenix Zoo’s field conservation research page.
What does “after 50 year disappearance” mean?
It means the Atascosa Highlands had no confirmed ocelot sighting for at least 50 years before this recording, according to the Phoenix Zoo. It does not mean ocelots had gone unrecorded throughout Arizona. The Zoo noted a separate ocelot recorded in the Huachuca range, more than 50 miles from the Atascosa sighting.
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The distinction matters: this was a new individual for the Arizona record and a notable detection in a particular mountain region, not evidence that the species had vanished statewide and then returned.
Was this the only detection of the cat?
No. The University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research and Conservation project calls the animal Ocelot #7. It reports a first detection in the Atascosa Mountains in June 2024, followed by later detections in the Patagonia and Santa Rita mountains, most recently in July 2025. The University of Arizona’s “Meet the Cats” page tracks those records.
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In October 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity reported that a later detection showed the same ocelot first photographed by the Phoenix Zoo on June 12, 2024. It said the cat had crossed the Santa Cruz River and Interstate 19. These records show that the individual moved through and was detected in additional areas; they do not establish that it reproduced or that Arizona has a self-sustaining population. The organization’s account is available at the Center for Biological Diversity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the camera record can—and cannot—tell us
Trail cameras can document a rare animal without capturing or disturbing it, and repeated records can help researchers follow an individual across locations. But a camera detection is not a population estimate. The Phoenix Zoo reported that its 2023 pilot study used 30 cameras and recorded 21 mammal species, with no ocelots or jaguars captured. That absence from the pilot footage does not prove either species was absent from the region; it records what those cameras detected during that study.
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The cited project accounts do not provide a current Arizona ocelot population estimate or evidence of a breeding population. The 2024 discovery and subsequent detections are significant monitoring records, but they should not be described as proof of statewide recovery.
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