Wildlife filmmaker Ben Masters sets out on a years-long mission to capture high-quality video footage of wild ocelots in Texas. In this behind-the-scenes video for during the making of the feature-length film “American Ocelot,” Masters explains the camera trapping process and showcases never before seen footage of wild American ocelots.
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TRANSCRIPT
(wind blowing) - The ocelot is somewhat of a holy grail for wildlife filmmakers.
They're rare, and in my opinion, they are the most beautiful cat species, possibly the most beautiful animal there is.
Few quality images have ever been taken, and they're shrouded in mystery.
My name is Ben Masters.
I grew up fascinated with ocelots, studied wildlife biology, and became a wildlife filmmaker.
Capturing images of these cats has become somewhat of an obsession.
So these research cameras, we have about 10 of them placed in the brush, and they're gathering intel on which of the trails the ocelots are using.
This spot right here, in the last month, we've been able to find five different times that an ocelot has walked past through here, so it's pretty high use for ocelots.
And now we're gonna set up one of the nicer cameras.
And the way that it works is we have these laser beam breaks that we're gonna put on the trail.
The cat is gonna walk through them.
It's gonna trigger the camera to turn on and to begin recording.
We'll hopefully get a shot.
(birds chirping) Waiting game begins.
The ocelot is perfectly adapted to the forests and thick brush they call home.
Their pattern of rosettes, stripes, and spots allow them to disappear into the tangle of vegetation and dappled light.
Twice the size of a housecat, they prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles.
Fewer than 120 are known to exist in the entire United States.
For three years, I've been camera trapping in this brush, and only once have I gotten the glimpse of an ocelot crossing the trail.
But I've come to know them through the cameras, and I've gotten to peek into their secretive lives.
There's something that you need to see.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
I hope you can see that.
We got it. Those are... We got the ocelot kittens.
Oh, my God.
And thus began one of the greatest experiences of my life: getting to watch two of these precious kittens grow up.
Merely weeks old, we were the first people to ever get to see what it takes for a wild American ocelot to raise her young.
(birds chirping) (vegetation rustling)
