Biologists hope photo trap captures wildcat

After the third report of jaguarundis darting through the brush, wildlife biologist Linda Laack hid sensory cameras in the grass hoping one of the wildcats would trip over a self-portrait.

After the third report in a month of jaguarundis darting through the brush, wildlife biologist Linda Laack took action.

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She hid sensory cameras in the grasses of this Gulf Coast preserve, in hopes one of the rare weasel-like wildcats would trip a self-portrait during its hunt for rodents or birds. Such a photo would be the first of a wild jaguarundi in the United States since 1986, when one of the animals was found dead outside of Brownsville. The endangered animal, about the size of a house cat, usually roams land stretching from southern Brazil through Central America and Mexico. At one time the animals reached north along Mexico's Gulf Coast into the subtropical scrub of the Rio Grande Valley _ the only place they have been documented in the United States _ but their range is dwindling because of deforestation and development. "They're such a mysterious animal that we really don't know a lot about them," Laack said. "That's why we would like to document them."

The evolutionary line of the jaguarundi most resembles pumas and cheetahs, though they are usually compared to weasels for their gait and otters for their long, short-legged bodies. Their name means "weasel cat" in German. The animals have no spots or stripes and come in one of two colors _ blackish-gray or cinnamon brown. They have long, wide tails and weigh between 8 pounds (4 kilograms) and 15 pounds (7 kilograms).