New wild cat species named in Bolivia after living years at a sanctuary
Researchers have named Leopardus tilcayo, a small spotted cat found at a Bolivian wildlife sanctuary, as the first new living wild cat species described in more than 100 years.
A small, spotted feline that had been living quietly at a wildlife sanctuary in Bolivia for years has turned out to be a species new to science, researchers have reported in the journal Current Biology.
The cat, taken in by a local family and kept at the Sendaverde Wildlife Sanctuary near Coroico, has been formally named Leopardus tilcayo. The name preserves a term already used by communities in the tropical cloud forests of the Bolivian Andes where the animal lives.
The work was led by Bolivian scientists Paola Nogales Ascarrunz and Enzo Aliaga-Rossel of the Higher University of San Andrés (UMSA), together with an international team that analysed the animal's genetic information.
To place the cat within South America's feline family tree, the researchers compared genomes — complete sets of genetic instructions — from more than 30 cats from locations including Colombia, Peru and Brazil. Where fresh samples were unavailable, bones and skins preserved in museums in the United States and Europe supplied DNA to fill the gaps.
The analysis showed that the sanctuary cat belonged to a previously unrecognised species whose lineage split from its relatives roughly 1.4 million years ago. The last feline species to be formally identified was the Uruguayan pampas cat in 1923.
The findings also helped resolve a long-standing puzzle surrounding South America's tiger cats, which scientists had once grouped as a single species because of their close resemblance. The DNA analysis pointed to at least five distinct species — four already named, plus the newly described tilcayo.
Aliaga-Rossel stressed that the animal itself was not a new discovery, but that the threats it faces are shared with many others in the same habitat. "They face as a new species are the same as those affecting many species living in this habitat, namely the typical habitat loss," he said.
He added that the announcement carries wider significance for the country. "Bolivia is coming out with good news, right? I mean, we're giving the world a new species with a newly christened name. So, that's enough, I think, to generate a lot of interest."
The next task for researchers is to learn more about these small cats in the wild. Scientists hope the formal designation of the species will help protect its forest habitat, which faces pressure from deforestation and mining.