Jaguarundi Sounds (Vocalizations)

The vocal repertoire of the jaguarundi is "totally different from other felines". Perhaps this is not surprising as the jaguarundi looks different to all other felines! It looks like a marten or weasel or similar non-feline creature. The jaguarundi is a bit of an anomaly and classifying the species has been difficult.

Jaguarundi - Photo Dave Irving.

Balazs Buzas and Eszter Gulyas working at the Rare Species Conservation Centre in Sandwich, Kent, England, have raised jaguarundi cubs and in doing so have observed at first hand their vocalisations. They confirm the sounds made by this interesting wild cat as recorded by Cutter (1957) and Hulley in 1976.

There are 13  different sounds apparently:

1. Short whistle: used for attention seeking. The response is a single "peep".
2. Long whistle: a greeting.
3. Chirp: calling when the other cannot be seen.
4. Short purr: female calling kittens. Calling each other.
5. Long purr: expression of contentment as for the domestic cat.
6. Single quiet hiss: greeting from aged four weeks.
7. Loud hiss: from the age of 2 days kittens and cats use this as a warning to stay away.
8. Spit: warning to keep away. Insistent. A spit is on the video above.
9. Scream/growl: sound made during fighting and when feeding and a challenge (scream) when mating. Listen to video but turn the sound down!
10. Snuffle: vocalization made when patrolling territory.
11. Chatter: made by smacking their lips together and a close greeting sound.
12. Muted "yap": communication between individual cats under slight stress.
13. Faint cry: made by female when sexually receptive.

Associated: Cat Sounds MP3 WMA WAV

Reference: All references to Hand-raising jaguarundis (puma yagouaroundi) by Balazs Buzas and Eszter Gulyas in Feline Conservation Federation magazine vol 56 issue 2 March/April 2012.