Nature

A New Wild Cat Species Has Been Formally Identified in Bolivia for the First Time in More Than 100 Years.

Scientists have formally described a new tiny wild cat species from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests: the Tilcayo tiger cat (Leopardus tilcayo). 🐈🌿 The discovery began when a local man found a kitten near a forest road in 2016 and took it home, thinking it was a domestic cat. DNA analysis later showed that it was a distinct species whose lineage separated from other tiger cats around 1.4 million years ago. The cat weighs around 1.4 kg (3 lb), and scientists still don't know how many live in the wild. Source: Curre