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Surprising Partnership Between Ocelots and Opossums Captured By Trail Cameras

Could ocelots and opossums be working together in the wild? A recent study suggests their strange alliance might benefit both animals.
ByCaLea Johnson|
Ocelots and opossums are partnering up.
Ocelots and opossums are partnering up. | Mike Hill/GettyImages

People have long observed unlikely relationships in the animal kingdom, such as friendships between cats and rats. According to Smithsonian, one strange pairing in the Amazon has caught the attention of scientists: opossums and ocelots.

Although the latter species has been known to prey on the former, researchers at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station in Peru caught footage of both animals strolling together without any signs of hostility between them. Isabel Damas-Moreira, a behavioral ecologist at Bielefeld University in Germany and the study’s lead author, first noticed them after the team set up cameras to capture bird behavior at night. You can watch the unusual interaction below.

To ensure the sighting wasn’t a one-off incident, researchers reached out to other facilities across the Amazon. The scientists they spoke to witnessed four ocelot-and-opossum partnerships between them from 2019 to 2023, suggesting there was more to the story than a chance meet-cute.

The researchers dug deeper to understand the bond between the two species. They set out two cloth strips, each with a puma or ocelot scent, in front of cameras and observed various opossums’ reactions. Five to seven of the marsupials were seen rubbing, sniffing, or biting the fabric that smelled like the ocelot, with some even visiting the cloth multiple times. Most of them completely ignored the strip with the puma scent. These findings were published in the journal Ecosphere.

Although it’s a remarkable discovery, scientists aren’t entirely sure why some ocelots and opossums seem to be buddies. A statement from Bielefeld University shares that the scientists believe this could be a mutually beneficial relationship, in which all parties have something to gain from the pairing. In the ocelot and opossum’s case, their mixed scents could result in chemical camouflage. The opossum could also be helping the ocelot as it forages for food, as the marsupial is resistant to viper venom. Additionally, the ocelot could ward off the opossum’s predators. Further research is still needed to understand their partnership. 

Though their names are often used interchangeably, opossums and possums aren’t the same. Here’s the difference between them.

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