About Our Zoo

Alice

Alice the Ocelot
Alice the Ocelot
Ocelot baby Rio walks to his mother, Alice.
Ocelot baby Rio walks to his mother, Alice.

 

Shortly after arriving at Oregon Zoo in April 2006, then-14-year-old Alice and her mate, Ralph, settled in well enough to produce Rio, who was born Sept. 14, 2006.

"We were very pleased with how protective she was with her cub," said Dave Thomas, a senior keeper at the zoo. "Her mothering skills were even more impressive, given that she was recovering from a broken leg at the time, and that she hadn't given birth to a cub for a few years."

Ralph, Alice and Rio belong to the southern Brazilian species of ocelot, Leopardus pardalis mitis, which inhabits the tropical and subtropical forests of southern Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. They live in the zoo's ocelot exhibit.

Learn more about ocelots.