--- title: A Margay Kitten Launches Himself From the Top of a Door, NYC, 1961 description: Montezuma the margay kitten -- an arboreal cat native to Central and South America -- launches himself from the top of a door in 1961. canonical: https://time.com/3879958/margay-exotic-cat-in-new-york-city-apartment/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-23T16:15:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:41.658Z og:title: A Margay Kitten Launches Himself From the Top of a Door, NYC, 1961 og:description: Montezuma the margay kitten -- an arboreal cat native to Central and South America -- launches himself from the top of a door in 1961. og:url: https://time.com/3879958/margay-exotic-cat-in-new-york-city-apartment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb7fc08987b59f2f/69884be6cd6848461409f733/margay-feat-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Leaping Margay, NYC, 1961 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Margay Kitten Launches Himself From the Top of a Door, NYC, 1961 twitter:description: Montezuma the margay kitten -- an arboreal cat native to Central and South America -- launches himself from the top of a door in 1961. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb7fc08987b59f2f/69884be6cd6848461409f733/margay-feat-crop.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It's a Bird! 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=3e41c66e-fa11-4e5f-891e-e14ebfe0f428&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=3e41c66e-fa11-4e5f-891e-e14ebfe0f428&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 23, 2014 4:15 PM UTC  Montezuma the margay in New York apartment, 1961. Montezuma the margay in New York apartment, 1961. Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 23, 2014 4:15 PM UTC It’s the early 1960s. You’re dropping by a friend’s place. You knock on the door — but brace yourself. In their house or apartment there just might reside a lithe jungle cat. These creatures usually call Central and South American forests home, but as LIFE explained to its readers in a December 1961 article, [margays](http://www.wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/south-america/margay/) were adapting to a whole new habitat … a concrete jungle. Today, they’re classified as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of endangered species. But back in the ’60s, margays (along with leopards, chimpanzees and kangaroos) were kept by the rich and famous as novelty pets. The photo here is of Montezuma the margay — “the most elegant pet to be found in New York City,” according to LIFE — romping in the Manhattan home of Mr. and Mrs. Si Merrill. Subsisting largely on a diet of beef or turkey heart, and the occasional side of watercress, the powerful feline was full of energy. “I don’t think I could live without a margay,” Mrs. Merrill told LIFE. But Monte (as he was known) could probably do all right without her. Margays live largely on birds in their native arboreal habitat — and New York, of course, has an abundance of plump pigeons. Delia Mandia is a native New Yorker and NYU undergraduate student whose passion is her global nonprofit organization, [Night Night Monster](http://www.nightnightmonster.org/). She also enjoys competitive gaming (she is world-ranked) on her custom built hydro-cooled PC, and attending Stargate conventions.  Montezuma the margay launches himself from the top of a door toward a bowl of his favorite delicacy -- watercress -- in New York City, 1961. Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879958/margay-exotic-cat-in-new-york-city-apartment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879958/margay-exotic-cat-in-new-york-city-apartment/"},"headline":"It's a Bird! It's a Plane! 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