Only one confirmed member of the species is known – a cat living in a rescue sanctuary in Bolivia – but scientists believe others exist.<\/p>\n
It was this 10-year-old cat, nicknamed ‘Tigrino’, that set scientists on the path to discovery. <\/p>\n
Bolivian scientist Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz was volunteering at the sanctuary when she noticed the cat looked unusual.<\/p>\n
It had been found in the forest by a local resident, who initially thought it was a domestic kitten. As it grew older, however, it became clear that it did not behave like a house cat.<\/p>\n
Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz had heard of other sightings of small wild cats in the dense forests of the country’s Yungas region, but these had not been investigated by scientists.<\/p>\n
To solve the mystery, she joined forces with other researchers from around the world to investigate the family history of tiger cats, using DNA from living animals and museum specimens.<\/p>\n
“There’s so few records or pictures, no individual in a museum, so it was hiding because nobody was looking,” said Eduardo Eizirik, a conservation geneticist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.<\/p>\n