New cat species discovered in Bolivia after a century

In Bolivia, a man found a kitten by the roadside and took it home, unaware it belonged to a previously unknown species.

The man cared for the animal for about a year before realizing it was a wild cat and transferring it to the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary near La Paz. Biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, contacted by the sanctuary, initially thought the cat was a Leopardus tigrinus, a species found in Brazil.

However, Nogales-Ascarrunz grew suspicious of this identification because the cat’s markings were larger than those of known Leopardus tigrinus individuals. Years of study with colleagues confirmed her suspicions, and they officially classified the cat as a new species, Leopardus tilcayo, reporting their findings in the journal Current Biology. Researchers have so far analyzed two living Leopardus tilcayo individuals, including a ten-year-old male named Tigre who still lives at Senda Verde.

Previously, all cats in the Leopardus genus were considered one species, but genetic research revealed at least five distinct species, one of which is now Leopardus tilcayo. The new species weighs around 1.4 kilograms, making it smaller than the average domestic cat.