Mysterious Bolivian 'weird cat' recognized as new species, marking first discovered in over century

Its path to scientific recognition began in 2016, when Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz received a call from the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary about what staff described as an unusual cat.

Scientists have identified a new species of wild cat living in Bolivia’s cloud forests, the first new living feline species described in more than a century, according to research published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

The small, spotted cat, named Leopardus tilcayo, lives in the Yungas forest on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The animal is smaller than an average domestic cat and bears dark, leopard-like rosettes across its light-brown coat, National Geographic reported.

Its path to scientific recognition began in 2016, when Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz received a call from the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary about what staff described as an unusual cat.

A local man had reportedly found the animal as a kitten on a road near a forest and brought it home, initially believing it was a domestic cat. After about a year, its wild behavior convinced him to transfer it to the sanctuary.

Nogales-Ascarrunz, founder of the Bolivian Felids Research Program, initially believed the animal belonged to Leopardus tigrinus, one of a group commonly known as tiger cats. She photographed the animal extensively but did not immediately suspect that it represented a species unknown to science.

Several years later, while preparing a guide to Bolivia’s wild cats, she noticed that the animal’s markings differed substantially from those of tiger cats found in neighboring Brazil. In particular, its rosettes appeared considerably larger.

That observation ultimately led Nogales-Ascarrunz and an international team of researchers to investigate its genetics. The scientists compared complete genomes from 38 animals belonging to the Leopardus genus, according to National Geographic.

The analysis placed the Bolivian animal on a distinct branch of the feline family tree and indicated that its lineage separated from related tiger cats roughly 1.4 million years ago.

The name was chosen in recognition of the people of the region

Researchers proposed the scientific name Leopardus tilcayo in recognition of the name people in the region traditionally used for the cat.

Nogales-Ascarrunz told National Geographic that when researchers asked residents why they called the animal “tilcayo,” they said the name had simply been passed down through generations. Its precise linguistic origin remains unclear.

Scientists currently know that the species inhabits Bolivia’s Yungas, a humid forest ecosystem where the Andes descend toward the Amazon basin. Beyond that, much of its biology remains unknown.

Separating one widespread animal into several species can have immediate conservation implications.

If a population previously considered part of a species distributed over a vast territory is instead recognized as an independent species confined to a limited habitat, its conservation status may look dramatically different.

“If you think [the tiger cat] is a single thing from southern Brazil all the way to Costa Rica, you’re going to find it’s not endangered,” Eizirik told National Geographic. “But if we find that it’s not a single thing, but actually five things, each of them must be assessed separately.”

Scientists do not yet know how many L. tilcayo individuals remain in the wild, making it difficult to assess its conservation status.

The discovery also shows why small wild cats can remain scientifically obscure even when local communities have long known they exist. Unlike lions, tigers and other heavily studied members of the cat family, smaller felids are often elusive, nocturnal and difficult to distinguish from closely related species.

For Nogales-Ascarrunz, the importance of the discovery extends beyond taxonomy.

“Our world is extremely complex,” she told National Geographic. “Sometimes we think that most of it is known, that there's not a whole lot to discover, but in fact, it's the other way around.”

Even among mammals as familiar as cats, she said, species may still be waiting for science to recognize them.

“Even in the cats, there are things out there that are undescribed, things that people haven't found yet,” Nogales-Ascarrunz said. “So let's go out and find them and protect them.”