Living With an Ocelot. In a Manhattan Apartment.

Photographer Al Fenn Visited the Manhattan apartment home of Si and Meg Merrill. Fenn was on assignment for LIFE magazine to do a photo essay on living with an ocelot. More correctly a tree ocelot, also known as a margay, a smaller, lighter, tree-dwelling cousin of the true ocelot.

The Merrills had bought "Montezuma" - or Monte - a little over a year before as a kitten. Exotic pets, like leopards, chimpanzees, other monkey species and kangaroos, were very popular in the 1960s.

Monte's diet consisted of beef or turkey heart with the addition of a little watercress. Margays eat grass and other vegetation in the wild. They also hunt and eat small mammals and birds Read more...

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