A new cat species has been formally identified for the first time in 100 years. Found in Bolivia, the Leopardus tilcayo has markings similar to a leopard, but is smaller than a domestic house cat. Unfortunately, while this tiger cat is undeniably cuddle-sized, it is not for cuddling.
Revealed in a paper published in Current Biology on Thursday, the diminutive Leopardus tilcayo is described as having “relatively large, irregular, dark brown to black rosettes” on its light brown fur, which darkens along its spine and lightens toward its limbs. The tiger cat is also adorably small, measuring just 425 to 505mm from its head to the end of its body, excluding its 250 to 265mm-long tail. (In comparison, the average domestic cat is around 460 to 510mm long, with a tail measuring 250 to 380mm.)
A tilcayo cat (Leopardus tilcayo) at Senda Verde in Coroico, Bolivia.
Credit: Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark
Other than this, very little is known about the tilcayo. However, researchers state that this tiger cat was already known to locals in the Bolivian Yungas region, who called it “tilcayo.”
“We asked the local people, ‘Why do you call it tilcayo?'” the paper’s co-lead author, Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, told National Geographic. “And they said, ‘I don’t know! My grandpa called it tilcayo, so I call it tilcayo.”
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The specific cat that helped Nogales-Ascarrunz and her team identify the new species had already been living in a Bolivian wildlife sanctuary for almost a decade. A local man initially found the male kitten on a road and cared for it at his home for about a year, believing it was an ordinary house cat. However, he eventually realised that it was in fact a wild animal, prompting him to hand it to the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary in 2016.
They then contacted biologist Nogales-Ascarrunz, who mistakenly identified the cat as a Leopardus tigrinus, also known as an oncilla or northern tiger cat. However, upon subsequently reviewing her photos of the cat in 2019, she realised that it did not match images of other felines presumed to be of the same species.
DNA testing has now proved her suspicions correct, confirming that the cat is indeed an entirely new species. Nogales-Ascarrunz and her fellow researchers further noted that, compared to the oncillia, the tilcayo has “larger and more irregular flank markings, [a] longer and fuller tail, and irregular caudal blotches [near the tail].”
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Affectionately named “Tigrino,” Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary’s resident tilcayo is the only known animal of his species to be in protective human care. As such, practically everything we know about tilcayos is in reference to Tigrino. However, now that researchers know what to look for, there is the chance that other previously misidentified tilcayo cats may be discovered.
