DNA reveals new 3-pound wild cat species in Bolivia after a century

A tiny wild cat living quietly in the Bolivian Andes has turned out to be something scientists have been searching for without quite knowing it. Weighing barely three pounds, the animal spent years being mistaken for other small spotted cats.

Only after researchers compared its DNA with samples from dozens of wild felines did they realise they were looking at something entirely different. The discovery of Leopardus tilcayo, now known as the tilcayo cat, marks the description of the first new living feline species in more than a century, states a Discover Wildlife report.

An unexpected discovery

According to the report, the story began in 2017, when a male wild cat was brought to the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary after a local family that had been caring for him turned him over to the sanctuary.

Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, a wild cat conservationist and National Geographic Explorer, encountered the animal while volunteering there. Its unusual appearance raised questions about exactly what kind of cat had arrived at the sanctuary.

The answer eventually emerged through genetic research. Scientists analysed DNA from 38 wild cats, including museum specimens and living animals, and found that what had long been treated as a single group of tiger cats actually represented several distinct species with separate evolutionary histories.

The research formally recognised four other species within the group and identified Leopardus tilcayo as a previously undescribed one.

A cat from the clouds

The online report by Discover Wildlife states the tilcayo cat is native to Bolivia's Yungas cloud forest, a mountainous region within the Andes-Amazon basin. The area remains among the least-studied parts of the Neotropical realm, despite its remarkable concentration of species found nowhere else.

That lack of research could explain why such a distinctive animal escaped scientific recognition for so long.The report adds that the cat measures roughly 18 inches from head to body and weighs around 3 pounds, making it smaller than the average domestic cat. Its appearance helps distinguish it from the oncilla, also known as the northern tiger cat. The tilcayo has larger spots, a longer and more slender tail and comparatively muted fur.

The search is only beginning

The biggest mystery is how many tilcayo cats are actually living in the wild. Researchers currently cannot determine the species' full range, partly because small tiger cats are notoriously difficult to identify through camera-trap surveys. They can easily be confused with oncillas or margays. The sanctuary's male, now ten years old, is the only known individual of the species in protective captivity.To find out whether others are hiding in the Yungas, Ascarrunz is installing camera traps throughout the forest. Images of additional animals could reveal the cat's distribution, behaviour and population size, while genetic samples could help confirm whether they belong to the same species, adds the online report. For now, the tilcayo cat remains one of the rarest wild cats known to science, and a reminder that even in an age of genetic sequencing and remote cameras, there are still species waiting to be found.Image Courtesy: istock