Tilcayo: First New Cat Species in Over a Century Identified in Bolivia

Key facts

• A new cat species, the tilcayo, has been discovered in Bolivia, the first new cat species in over 100 years.
• The tilcayo is smaller than a house cat, measuring about 18 inches long and weighing about 3 pounds, with rounded ears and leopard-like spots.
• It lives in the Los Yungas forests of Bolivia, a humid mountainous region often covered by clouds.
• The discovery began about 10 years ago when a local man found a kitten on a road near a forest and later gave it to the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary.
• Biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz used genetic testing on samples from the 2016 specimen and another animal at Senda Verde to confirm it was a new species.
• The tilcayo diverged from other tiger cat lineages about 1.4 million years ago.
• The scientific name Leopardus tilcayo honors the local name, which comes from traditional knowledge in Quechua and Aymara languages.
• The finding was published in the journal Current Biology and reported by National Geographic and NBC News.