Photo by Kirill on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 17 September 2026, researchers described a new species of small spotted cat, Leopardus tilcayo, in the journal Current Biology. The first known animal was found as a kitten by a local man near a forest in Bolivia's Yungas region and later handed to the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary, where biologist and National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz was called in to see it in 2017.
Key facts
The team compared complete genomes from 38 cats across the Leopardus genus, including eight museum specimens, and found that South America's look-alike tiger cats form five distinct species, one of them new to science.
The tilcayo's lineage split from its closest tiger cat relatives about 1.4 million years ago.
It is smaller than an average house cat: about 46 centimetres (18 inches) long and about 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds), with light brown fur and dark, irregular rosettes.
Its scientific name keeps "tilcayo", the name local communities already used for the cat. The same study also named a new tiger cat subspecies from Peru, Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo.
Why it matters
The IUCN Red List currently treats tiger cats as two vulnerable species, and when look-alike species are lumped together a rare one can look safer than it is. The researchers have shared their results with the IUCN, whose upcoming review will assess the five lineages separately, and co-lead author Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp says the tilcayo could be considered endangered when judged on its own. Scientists hope the formal name will help protect its Yungas forest, which faces deforestation, gold mining, farming and fires.
Worth noting
Almost everything about the tilcayo's life in the wild is still unknown. The species is described from just two live animals, including a male of about 10 years that lives at Senda Verde, plus a small number of camera-trap records. Scientists do not know how many tilcayos exist, how far their range extends beyond Bolivia's Yungas, or much about their diet, behaviour and breeding; rodent remains in droppings suggest they eat small rodents, and they may be more active at night.