A diminutive wild cat that inhabits Bolivia\u2019s \u2060cloud forest has been identified as a previously unknown species, marking the first time a new living feline species has been formally named and described in more than a century.<\/p>\n
The cat, called tilcayo by local communities, is part of a group called tiger \u2060cats found across much of South \u2060America. It was found in Bolivia\u2019s \u200blush Yungas forest, a mountainous region where forests are often covered by clouds and surrounded by high humidity, according to researchers. It measures about 18in (46cm) long and weighs about 3lb (1.4kg), making it smaller than the average domestic \u2060cat.<\/p>\n
Researchers used genetic data to confirm that the cat is a new species, and gave it the scientific name Leopardus tilcayo, retaining its local name.<\/p>\n
A Leopardus tilcayo cat at the Senda Verde animal refuge in the Yungas region of Bolivia on 1 September 2026. Photograph: Fernando Faciole\/National Geographic\/Reuters<\/p>\n
\u201cIts fur is light brown \u2026 with irregularly shaped rosettes across its body,\u201d said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic explorer and one of the authors \u2060of the study describing the newly identified species published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.<\/p>\n
Little is yet known about the cat\u2019s biology and lifestyle. Remains of small rodents in scat \u200bsamples suggest they may form part of its diet, while camera-trap evidence indicates it \u200ccould be more active at night, Nogales-Ascarrunz said.<\/p>\n
Tiger \u200ccats are so-called cryptic species, meaning they cannot easily be distinguished merely by appearance, said evolutionary biologist and study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp in Belgium.<\/p>\n
Tiger \u200ccats previously had been considered a single species, but genetic studies decades ago suggested the existence of multiple species.<\/p>\n
A tilcayo cat, the only known individual of the newly identified species living in protective captivity. Photograph: Fernando Faciole\/National Geographic\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Referring to the new species, Lescroart said: \u201cOur information at this moment is limited to the two live individuals that we examined, and a small number of camera-trap records.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the live cats is a 10-year-old male that now lives in the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary in Bolivia after being kept by a local family in their home.<\/p>\n
Observing the Bolivian cat drew interest because \u201cits characteristics did not match the descriptions, most of them based on Brazilian cats\u201d, Nogales-Ascarrunz said. \u201cThis made us wonder: what tiger cat do we actually have in Bolivia?\u201d<\/p>\n
The team analysed DNA from 38 cats sampled across several South \u200cAmerican countries, including eight museum specimens. The study found that tiger cats are in fact five genetically distinct species.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never expected this Bolivian tiger cat to be a separate species, and no one had ever proposed it as a different animal, subspecies or otherwise,\u201d Lescroart said.<\/p>\n
Genetic analysis suggested \u200bthat the tilcayo lineage separated from other tiger cats about 1.4m years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more differences in their DNA, the longer the time that we estimate those lineages to have been physically separated,\u201d Lescroart said, adding that such a gap is generally considered a species-level divide in cats.<\/p>\n
The research team also described a new tiger cat subspecies in Peru\u2019s Yungas region, naming it Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo after Antisuyu, the region of the old Inca empire that included the area it inhabits.<\/p>\n