Smaller than an average house cat and hidden inside Bolivia’s mist-covered Yungas forest, Leopardus tilcayo is the first entirely new living cat species formally described by scientists in more than a century.
Published at 5:19 p.m. EDT
A small, spotted wildcat from Bolivia has accomplished something no living feline has done in more than 100 years. It has persuaded scientists to add a completely new species to the cat family.
The newly described animal is called the tilcayo, or Leopardus tilcayo. It inhabits the Yungas, a steep and biologically rich region where the eastern slopes of the Andes descend toward the Amazon basin. Moist air blankets much of the forest in clouds, creating an isolated world of dense vegetation, high humidity and species that can remain concealed from science for generations.
The tilcayo measures approximately 18 inches, or 46 centimeters, from its head to the end of its body and weighs about three pounds. That makes it smaller than the average domestic cat. Its light-brown coat is marked by irregular, dark rosettes that give it the appearance of a miniature leopard.
Its size may be modest, but its scientific significance is enormous.
Researchers formally identified Leopardus tilcayo in a study published September 17 in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology. The finding represents the first time since the description of the pampas cat in 1923 that scientists have named an entirely new living cat species, rather than restoring an older scientific name or elevating a previously recognized subspecies.
The discovery also reveals how much researchers still do not know about small wildcats, even as the habitats supporting them disappear.
A “weird cat” that did not match the books
The story began roughly a decade ago when Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz received a call from the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary.
The sanctuary had acquired what was described as a “weird cat.” A local resident had found the animal as a kitten near a forest road and initially believed it was an unusual domestic cat. After keeping it for about a year, the resident realized that its behavior and appearance were unmistakably wild and brought it to the sanctuary.
Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic Explorer and founder of the Bolivian Felids Research Program, visited the animal. It had a compressed-looking face, rounded ears, long whiskers and prominent leopard-like markings. She took approximately 100 photographs during that early encounter, according to National Geographic’s account of the research.
The cat resembled a member of a South American group commonly known as tiger cats. Yet some of its characteristics did not match the descriptions available to researchers, many of which were based on animals found in Brazil.
That mismatch produced the question that ultimately drove the investigation: What kind of tiger cat actually lived in Bolivia?
At first, the animal’s appearance alone could not provide a reliable answer. Tiger cats are considered cryptic species, which means separate species can look so similar that researchers cannot confidently distinguish them through photographs or external measurements.
The answer was hidden in the cat’s DNA.
Genomics revealed a lineage 1.4 million years old
Researchers studied complete genomic data from 38 cats belonging to the South American genus Leopardus. The samples came from several countries and included DNA from eight museum specimens, giving the team access to animals that could not be examined alive.
Of the 38 cats, 26 belonged to the tiger-cat species complex, the collection of spotted small cats at the center of the classification dispute.
The genomic comparison showed that the Bolivian tilcayo was not simply a regional variation of another tiger cat. It belonged to a distinct evolutionary lineage that separated from its closest relatives approximately 1.4 million years ago.
Study co-leader Jonas Lescroart, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Antwerp, explained that genetic differences accumulate as populations remain physically separated. The degree of separation found in the tilcayo’s DNA was consistent with the distinction researchers generally expect between feline species.
The estimated evolutionary distance is comparable to the separation between modern lions and extinct cave lions, according to National Geographic.
Researchers therefore proposed the scientific name Leopardus tilcayo. The name preserves the word local Bolivian communities have long used for the animal.
The designation is important because this was not a case in which scientists rediscovered an old museum label, revived a forgotten name or promoted an established subspecies. No researcher had previously proposed the Bolivian population as its own species.
“We never expected this Bolivian tiger cat to be a separate species,” Lescroart said in remarks reported by Reuters.
Science discovered it, but local communities already knew it
The phrase “new species” requires some qualification.
The tilcayo is new to formal science, not necessarily to the people who live near its habitat. Local communities already had a name for the animal, one passed between generations even though the precise origin of the word appears uncertain.
That distinction is more than a matter of language. It demonstrates why local knowledge can be indispensable to biological research.
Scientists may use genomic sequencing, museum collections and statistical models to establish whether an animal qualifies as a separate species. Residents living near forests can provide different forms of evidence, including names, sightings, behavioral observations and information about where animals have historically appeared.
The tilcayo story joins a long history of animals described as scientific discoveries even though Indigenous and local communities already recognized them. Responsible reporting should acknowledge both forms of knowledge without confusing them.
Formal classification gives the cat an internationally recognized scientific identity. The local name demonstrates that its presence did not begin when researchers sequenced its genome.
Almost everything about the cat remains unknown
Identifying Leopardus tilcayo may answer one taxonomic question, but it opens many more.
Researchers currently have information from only two living individuals and a limited number of camera-trap records. They do not yet know how many tilcayos survive in the wild, how large their territory is, how they reproduce, how long they live or precisely how much suitable habitat remains.
Camera traps suggest that the cats may be primarily active at night. Small-rodent remains found in scat indicate that rodents are probably part of their diet. Beyond those preliminary observations, the tilcayo’s daily life remains largely undocumented.
“So many basic things are not known,” Nogales-Ascarrunz told National Geographic.
That lack of information complicates conservation. Scientists cannot calculate a reliable population trend without knowing the animal’s range and approximate abundance. They also cannot design a complete protection strategy without understanding whether the cat depends on continuous forest, tolerates disturbed areas or crosses land cleared for farming.
The limited evidence creates another scientific challenge. Researchers will need additional DNA samples, camera-trap images and field observations to establish how much physical variation exists across the species.
The cat’s rarity in scientific records does not automatically mean that it is rare in nature. It may simply be exceptionally difficult to observe. However, the narrow known range and growing pressure on its habitat give conservationists reason to be concerned.
The discovery reorganizes the tiger-cat family
The study does more than add one name to a catalog. It redraws the evolutionary map of South America’s tiger cats.
These animals were once broadly treated as a single species. Genetic work conducted over recent decades gradually showed that the apparent species was actually a collection of different evolutionary lineages.
Research published in 2013 provided evidence that tiger cats previously grouped under Leopardus tigrinus represented at least two species. Another genetically distinct tiger cat, Leopardus pardinoides, was formally proposed in 2024.
The latest study concludes that South America’s tiger cats should be recognized as five distinct species.
Researchers also described a new subspecies in the Peruvian Yungas, naming it Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo. Antisuyu was the eastern region of the Inca Empire and included territory associated with the animal’s present habitat.
This expanding family tree shows how appearances can mislead scientists. Two cats may share similar markings and body shapes because those traits help them survive in comparable environments. Genomic evidence can reveal that their populations have followed separate evolutionary paths for immense periods of time.
It also shows why the phrase “first new cat species” should be used precisely. Other feline populations have recently been reclassified or raised to full-species status. The tilcayo stands apart because it appears to be the first completely novel living cat species formally named in more than a century.
Recognition could expose a conservation emergency
Being identified as a species gives the tilcayo scientific visibility, but recognition does not guarantee survival.
The Yungas is one of South America’s most diverse and threatened ecosystems. Its forests face pressure from agricultural expansion, mining, human-caused fires and deforestation. Roads and cleared land can divide continuous habitat into isolated patches, making it harder for small populations to find mates and preserve genetic diversity.
Cloud forests are especially sensitive because their ecosystems depend on specific combinations of moisture, elevation and temperature. Climate change can move suitable environmental conditions higher along mountain slopes, leaving species with progressively less available territory.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently assesses tiger cats through older classifications that recognize fewer species. Those groupings can conceal the vulnerability of smaller, isolated populations.
Imagine that several distinct species are counted as one widely distributed animal. The combined population may appear large enough to qualify as vulnerable rather than endangered. Once the animals are assessed separately, a species restricted to one shrinking forest could face a much higher level of extinction risk.
Researchers have shared the new evidence with the IUCN, which is expected to review the five tiger-cat lineages separately. Scientists say the tilcayo could eventually be classified as endangered, although a formal assessment has not yet been completed.
Restoring burned forest, protecting surviving native habitat and maintaining connected wildlife corridors are among the urgent measures identified by researchers.
Museums played a quiet but essential role
One of the most important details in the study is the inclusion of eight museum specimens.
Natural-history collections are sometimes viewed as static displays, but preserved specimens can function as biological archives. Tissue, bones, teeth, measurements and collection records allow scientists to test new questions with technology that did not exist when the specimens were acquired.
Genomic sequencing can now extract evolutionary information that the original collectors could not have imagined. In this case, museum material helped researchers compare the Bolivian cats with animals from other locations and reconstruct relationships across the Leopardus genus.
That document trail strengthens the identification. The conclusion is not based on a single striking photograph or an unusually marked individual. It rests on comparisons across living animals, archived specimens, complete genomes and geographic populations.
It also illustrates why preserving scientific collections remains important. A specimen that appears routine today may become decisive evidence decades later.
The larger warning behind an adorable discovery
The public response to the tilcayo will probably be driven by its appearance. It is small, round-eared and covered in dramatic spots. Photographs make it look like a house cat wearing the coat of a leopard.
Its appearance may attract attention, but the discovery carries a less comfortable message.
If a living cat species could remain formally unrecognized until 2026, then the world’s biodiversity is still far less documented than many people assume. Small mammals, insects, amphibians, plants and fungi are even more likely to remain unnamed.
Some may disappear before science learns they exist.
Eduardo Eizirik, an evolutionary biologist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul and the study’s senior author, said the discovery demonstrates that new species remain hidden even within a prominent animal family such as cats.
“There are many undiscovered species out there in the world, and they are at risk of disappearing before we even discover them,” Eizirik said in comments published with the study’s coverage.
The tilcayo is therefore both a discovery and a warning. Science has gained a new branch on the feline family tree, but it has also inherited responsibility for an animal whose population, behavior and prospects remain largely unknown.
The next chapter cannot end with naming it.
Researchers must now locate wild populations, map their range, estimate their numbers and determine which parts of the Yungas are essential to their survival. Governments and conservation groups will then have to decide whether the forest that concealed the tilcayo for so long will remain intact enough to protect it.
For generations, local people had a name for the tiny spotted cat. Science finally has one too. Whether future generations will inherit a living species rather than a scientific record now depends on what happens next.
Reporting and sourcing note
The explanation of the distinction between discovery, local knowledge, taxonomic recognition and conservation status is original analysis by Karla Alvarado based on the study record and named sources.