Ocelots are passive mobs that normally spawn in Jungle Biomes. They are the second tameable mob to be introduced into Minecraft, the first being Wolves.
Cats are a passive mob tamed from Ocelots. When Ocelots are tamed, they turn into one of three different cat skins. Taming an Ocelot will most often yield a tabby cat, while tuxedo cats are a bit less common. Siamese cats are fairly rare. Cats will follow the Player and will teleport if they are too far away. They also tend to attack chickens at random. Creepers will run away from Ocelots and cats, making them a great shield against creepers; they won't try to get close to any cats, even if attacked and provoked by the player. Cats do not take fall damage and they will never attack hostile mobs. To make your house creeper-proof, tame enough ocelots into cats and then make them sit around your house.
Spawning
Ocelots seem to spawn much like normal passive mobs. Since they are only native to Jungle Biomes, Ocelots will tend to spawn in inaccessible areas, such as inside bushes and trees(this may be a bug; perhaps they're simply hiding from the player?). They may also appear near other biomes that are close to the Jungle Biome, so they may (rarely) be seen outside of its native biome. You can also spawn Ocelots via Creative Mode with the Ocelot Spawn Egg. In rare cases, baby Ocelots will spawn. There is also small chance that Ocelots can spawn in other biomes (possibly because the world was created in an older version). They can only spawn on Grass or Leaf blocks, and at layer 63 or higher. They also have a 1/3 chance of not actually spawning, making them somewhat rarer than other passive mobs.
Appearance
When untamed, these felines have yellow fur with black and brown spots, a grey-black nose, and green eyes. Once tamed, their skin will change to either tabby (most common), Tuxedo, or Siamese. Of these, the tabby and tuxedo skins have green eyes, while the siamese cats have blue eyes. In every case, their tails are in two segments to show curve.
Behavior
The Ocelot is a mainly passive, "shy" mob which will not attack the player. Should the player move or look too abruptly near one, it will sprint away. Ocelots are one of the six mobs with the ability to sprint (the Player, Endermen, Tamed cats, Zombie Pigmen, Wolves and Ocelots). If enclosed and unable to escape, they will stand still until an exit is made, after which they will quickly sprint through it. Wild Ocelots will occasionally slowly sneak up on chickens, then proceed to pounce and kill, much like that of a wolf to a sheep. However, their behavior when tamed takes priority over this behavior. Cats attempt to avoid cacti and other obstacles. Cats will teleport to the player if the player is too far away. Unlike wolves, they will not attack hostile mobs or provoke neutral mobs. This is due to their primarily passive nature. Creepers will actively avoid Ocelots should they come within a certain radius of the Ocelot. However, this will not deter them from chasing a player, only keeping the Creeper a distance away. Finally, the Ocelot will flee if it comes in contact with a wolf, despite that the wolf will not attempt to attack the Ocelot. An Ocelot will not die when falling from a great distance. However, it will if it comes in contact with lava or fire.
Feeding raw fish to an Ocelot will turn it into one of three breeds of cat and it will then follow you. Cats will purr and breed when fed raw fish. When you breed cats, both the parents and offspring will follow you, unlike other animals that breed. When activating its chicken-hunting behavior, a cat will assume a 'sneaking' stance and will stalk a chicken before chasing it down. Cats are much calmer than their untamed Ocelot brethren as they do not sprint or attempt to escape the player when he/she approaches. Cats are one of six mobs that possess the ability to sprint (the others being Endermen, Ocelots, Wolf, Zombie Pigman and the Player). Cats also possess the ability to open wooden doors. As noted before, when a creeper gets near a cat, the creeper will run away from it. A good strategy for keeping creepers away from your home is keeping a cat near your house at all times. Note that this will not keep other mobs away. Unlike a tamed wolf, cats won't attack mobs if you attack or receive damage from mobs. However, they will attempt to chase away attacking Endermen and Creepers.
Cats sitting on a bed.
Cats trying to sit on one chest while ignoring others close by.
Cats have a somewhat annoying behavior; they attempt to sit on any chests, beds, or active furnaces within a 5 block radius of the cat. Chests cannot be opened if a sitting cat is on top of it, and cats will ignore everything (even the player moving away) to get on top of one of these blocks. This behavior seems to be the first thing a tamed cat will try to do, even if these blocks are not visible by line of sight to the cat. If the player holds out a fish, the cat will partially follow the player away from the chest, bed, or active furnace it is sitting on. A cat that is already sitting before one of these blocks is placed, or that is told to sit before the cat notices the block, will not try to sit on it. They will not get down the block (i.e. stop sitting on them) unless the block is removed. Cats only try to sit on the second half of the bed (the half that is placed on the block selected to put the bed on), although they will remain seated if they get pushed by other mobs to the other half of the bed. Cats will only try to sit on the first chest, bed or active furnace they see, and will ignore all other chests, beds and active furnaces until this block is removed. This allows a player to create a distraction, if desired, for the cats while the player works on a project. A cat will not attempt to sit on a chest or bed if the chest or bed is at ground level (inset into the floor), or if there is a block above the chest or bed. Placing stairs, slabs or glass pane above chests is a good way to prevent this since the player can still open the chest, and the cat will ignore it. Cats will attempt to, but will not be able to, sit on a chest 2 blocks above ground level. It will run around it, but not be able to jump on top of it.
Taming
To tame an Ocelot, the player must be holding raw fish while standing perfectly still and not looking around too quickly. This will not work with cooked fish at all, as the Ocelot will then run away from the player when the food is held. It will slowly approach the player, and while in this state, right-clicking raw fish on the Ocelot will tame it. In some cases you will need more raw fish. This will change it to one of the three tame "cat" types. This will also end its shy or timid behavior. It will now follow the player, although not as strictly as wolves. Note that the player can only tame Ocelots when they walk to the player on their own, meaning caging the animal will not work. A good way to lure Ocelots is by placing several beds near the Ocelot, as the Ocelot will try to sit on them, just like cats do.
Right-clicking an Ocelot constantly will have no effect if:
- The Player is chasing it.
- The Player is not within 5 blocks of the Ocelot.
- The Player or the Ocelot is in a minecart.
- The Ocelot cannot escape or is on a structure that is more than 4 blocks high.
Breeding
A pair of cats breed by right clicking them while holding a raw fish.
Breeding will create a kitten and the parent cats have a delay of five minutes until they can breed again. The kitten will be the same color as one of the parents, and the kitten's color is more likely to be that of the parent fed fish first (e.g. if you were to feed a tabby with a fish first then a Siamese next, the kitten is most likely to be a tabby). If one parent cat is sitting, the kitten will be the color of the other parent.
In multiplayer you can breed your cat with the cats of other players. When you do this the player who owns the cat seems to be the one who's cat matches the kitten (e.g. if you breed your tabby cat with another player's Siamese cat and a tabby kitten is born you own the kitten).
Kittens will not drop experience orbs. The behavior of cats in love mode is the same as any other animal. Kittens' heads are proportional to their bodies, unlike most baby mobs.
Teleportation
Just like tamed wolves, they will teleport to the player if a large enough gap (roughly a 20 x 20 x 10 block area) is created between them and the player with a few exceptions:
- It is possible for a tamed cat to teleport to an inaccessible location (e.g. under ice) and be injured or suffocate of various causes as a result.
A cat will not teleport:
- if the cat has been ordered to sit.
- if the cat or the player is in a moving minecart.
- if the player is swimming/steering a boat in deep water; a cat will only teleport as the player approaches land or shallow water that is one block deep.
- if the player is standing on ice; a cat will teleport as the player approaches land.
- if the Player enters a portal and travels to the Nether or the End; a cat will remain in the Overworld until the player returns.
- from an unloaded chunk; a chunk will unload if you move far enough from the cat or into a different dimension (e.g. the Nether or the End).
History
Ocelots were first introduced in Snapshot 12w04a. Their official release was on March 1st, 2012, when Minecraft 1.2 was released. They are the first mob created by Jon Kågstrom, an AI Specialist working with Jens Bergensten on Minecraft.[1] Jens created the texture for the Ocelot, as Jon had trouble doing so himself.[2]
Cats were first implemented in snapshot 12w04a, and were later officially introduced in Minecraft 1.2. When cats were first introduced, there was no "sit" function for them; it was later added in 12w05a, and Cats can be told to sit by right-clicking them similar to Wolves.[3]
In Snapshot 12w04a, ocelots were extremely difficult to tame, and a debug message was on by default which states "spawned ozelot <X>, <Y>, <Z>" to the client and server whenever an Ocelot spawned. These were changed/removed in 12w05a.
Since Snapshot 12w05a, Ocelot spawn rates appear to have dropped; Creepers became scared of cats; cats and ocelots are immune to fall damage, similar to Snow Golems and Iron Golems; and cats can be made to sit.
As of Snapshot 12w06a, the Ocelot now have sounds, along with cats. Cats would also try to jump on a bed if there is one present.
As of version 1.2.4 Jeb stated in the logs that he made cats "more realistic, (read: probably more annoying)". This refers to the fact that Mojang implemented behavior causing cats to sit on beds, active furnaces, and chests. The object cannot be opened or used while a cat is sitting on one, so it becomes an annoyance for the player.
Gallery
Teaser image of the Ocelot released by Jeb. The Ocelot barely seen though the tall grass on the right side.
A closeup of an Ocelot found in a Jungle biome. Other Ocelots can be seen in the background.
- BabyOcelot1.png
A baby Ocelot jumping onto leaves.
One Ocelot and several cats with a kitten. Other Ocelots dot the background in the Jungle biome.
- 2012-01-26 16.44.27.png
A screenshot showing an untamed Ocelot, all three coat patterns, and a small tuxedo kitten.
- 2012-01-26 19.06.22.png
Two fully grown tuxedo cats and their kitten, who just killed a chicken.
- 2012-01-27 16.20.38.png
A baby Wolf, a Siamese cat, and a Siamese kitten.
- 2012-01-27 16.39.17.png
A cat attacking a chicken.
- 2012-01-27 23.20.04.png
A raw chicken and feather harvester, which uses cats to kill the chickens.
- SittingCat.png
A sitting tabby cat.
Two cats with a newly bred kitten.
- 2012-01-29 15.15.03.png
A baby tuxedo cat hiding in tall grass.
- 2012-03-03 14.04.09.png
A baby Siamese cat sitting with its parents. They might be guarding a house from creepers.
Bugs
- Ocelots can become stuck in fencing if they walk into it. This happens especially when they are chasing chickens.
- Upon jumping onto a one block high cactus, they will begin sprinting in circles on top of it until they inevitably die.
- Unlike other passive mobs, Ocelots can despawn in the same fashion as hostile mobs. This makes it difficult for the player to permanently cage or hold the Ocelot in any form of captivity for long.
- When you are in a Jungle, Ocelots may appear next to you and try to escape (as they normally will), though, when you walk away from them, they teleport back to you as if they were tamed, despite that they are not.
- When using a raw fish to breed, holding the right click down will make the Ocelot keep eating the fish and not stop like any other passive mob.
- When in a Jungle, Tundra or Forest Biome, Ocelots may continuously spawn and lag up the world; filling entire areas and eventually crashing the client.[citation needed]
- When a chicken is on the opposite side of a fence from a cat, the cat will get stuck in the fence until it kills the chicken.
- When disabling the server's "spawn-monsters" parameter, the cats glitch up and don't respond to the player. Pushing them into water reactivates them.
- When navigating down a slope (at least one block high) a cat will spin in a circle once it reaches the bottom.
- Cats that manage to get on top of a fence (via an adjacent block) will spin in circles.
- When loading a world, cats may change their skin in single player.
- Putting a cat in a minecart will cause a huge image glitch where if you go too far away from it, the cat still tries to teleport to you. However, when it does, it will be immediately teleported back to the minecart, causing a vision of multiple blinking cat images from the minecart to you (same bug for wolves).
- When sitting on top of a block being pushed by a piston, the cat will temporarily "forget" that it's sitting, teleporting to you if you are far away enough. Strangely, the cats will remain sitting if you're not far away enough to trigger the teleport response.
- Sometimes when a cat is trying to sneak, its torso would go backwards making it appear that the cat has a "bigger" backside.
- Loading a world with tamed cats will cause all of them to sit, even if they were standing before (discovered and tested on Creative SP)
- Sometimes loading a world with tamed cats causes them to stand up and be teleported next to you if too far away.
- When you are playing offline and you tame a cat, the cat will not respond to you if you are playing online (with an account). This may fix itself after taming a second cat on SMP.
- Cats sitting next to a wall have a small chance (6% estimated) to get stuck in a wall and start to suffocate, either after mating or being told to stand up.
- Cats sometimes do not teleport across ocean biomes due to the chunks where they are waiting being unloaded before you reach the other side.
- Cats cannot be healed by anything but health and regeneration splash potions.
- Cats don't avoid cacti and thus easily take damage.
- Cats and Ocelots can push you out of your bed, but you will still sleep (this applies to all mobs).
- Cats will follow other players when you go offline, and will resume following you when you log back on.
- For some reason, if there are multiple cats sitting down, not looking at any player for long enough, they will all stare in the same direction (exactly like tamed wolves).
- For some reason, restarting a server can teleport sitting cats to random places (e.g. roofs).
- When you push a sitting cat into a corner, it can suffocate until it dies.
- When logging onto a server, a sitting cat occupying the same block as a fence post cannot be released from the sitting position until pushed from the block.
- If a cat touches flowing or stationary lava, it lights on fire as a normal mob would and teleports away (in a way similar to an Enderman in water), but when it is found again, it will still be on fire, but will not be taking damage.
- Ocelots and wolves will follow and teleport to any nameless player even if they are untamed.
Trivia
- The entity ID, debug messages, and texture filenames use the Swedish word "Ozelot," instead of its English equivalent, "Ocelot."
- The tuxedo cat is based on Jeb's female cat, Newton.[4]
- In real life, cats are known for their ability to flip upright during a fall, particularly larger ones; though they still might be injured by landing. This fact is reflected in Minecraft, where ever since snapshot 12w05a, cats and ocelots are completely immune to fall damage.
- An easy way to tame Ocelots without scaring them off is to hold sneak with mouse sensitivity set to "yawn." The player may also press F8 to ease their cursor movement.
- As taming an Ocelot depends on them entering a certain mode first, they will still react to a player in Creative Mode.
- Ocelots and cats can climb vines and ladders.
- Since Snapshot 12w07a, Ocelots fight wolves.[citation needed]
- Baby Ocelots, if tamed, will become a kitten instead of a cat.
- If a cat gets near a bed, it will often attempt to jump on it and sit on its bottom half, creating an amusing sight.