Researchers have identified a new species of wild cat, Leopardus tilcayo or the Tilcayo tiger cat, for the first time in 100 years. This small, slender spotted cat was discovered in the Bolivian Yungas cloud forest where the Andes meet the Amazon basin. Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a conservationist from Bolivia's Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia, led the study published in Current Biology, noting that further research is needed to determine its population size and ensure its survival amid habitat loss.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-21,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
For the first time in a century, researchers say they’ve identified a new species of wild cat previously unknown to science.
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they → say → science
It is smaller than a typical house cat and lives in the Bolivian Yungas, the cloud forest where the Andes mountains meet the Amazon basin.
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mountains → live → basin
The species was described for the first time in the journal Current Biology on Thursday.
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species → describe → Thursday
It’s rare to find a new, relatively large mammal — unsurprisingly, most new animal species discovered are small in size, said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, who co-authored the study and leads a wild cat conservation program called the Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia (Bolivian Felid Research and Conservation Program).
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who → ’ → Bolivia
“This time, it’s a cat.
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it → ’ → ?
That’s really novel.
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That → ’ → ?
And it hasn’t happened in 100 years,” she said.
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she → happen → years
“No one else had named it.
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one → name → it
No one else had described it.”
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one → describe → it
“We really don’t know how many cats are still in the wild,” said Nogales-Ascarrunz, whose work as a conservationist is funded by National Geographic.
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work → know → Geographic
“We need science, we need more studies to answer this question, which is actually critical for its conservation.”
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which → need → conservation
Tiger cats — small, wild cats native to South and Central America in the Leopardus genus — face stiff conservation challenges as development and agriculture expand.
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development → face → challenges
The new study says there are five tiger cat species in South America.
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study → say → America
“All of them are in habitats that are vanishing fast,” said Tadeu de Oliveira, another coauthor of the study and an ecologist at the State University of Maranhão in Brazil.
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Oliveira → vanish → Brazil
Leopardus tilcayo might have continued to escape notice if not for Nogales-Ascarrunz’s sharp eyes.
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tilcayo → continue → eyes
She volunteers at a wildlife rehabilitation center near La Paz called the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary.
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She → volunteer → Paz
“I saw this cat, it was really, really small, and I couldn’t believe how small it was,” Nogales-Ascarrunz said.
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Ascarrunz → see → cat
“I thought it was a kitten.”
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it → think → ?
The cat had been brought in by a man living in a community in the forest near La Paz, who had mistaken the cat for a domestic kitten, according to details recorded by the sanctuary.
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who → bring → sanctuary
He had fed the animal noodles, rice and eggs, only to realize it was wild and that he could not take care of it.
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he → feed → it
So he brought it to the sanctuary.
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he → bring → sanctuary
Initially, colleagues at the sanctuary thought the animal might be a known tiger cat species from Brazil, but Nogales-Ascarrunz wasn’t convinced.
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Ascarrunz → think → Brazil
“If you look at the spots or the tail, they really don’t match,” she said.
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she → look → spots
Nogales-Ascarrunz did genetic testing, using tissue from the tiger cat and a second animal that also turned up at Senda Verde.
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that → do → Verde
The results from those specimens revealed that the two cats were unique and from the same species, which had diverged from other tiger cat lineages about 1.4 million years ago.
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which → reveal → lineages
That’s enough genetic distance to consider it a new species.
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it → ’ → ?
Nogales-Ascarrunz said, however, that local communities in Bolivia have been aware of the species’ presence for generations.
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communities → say → generations
“This cat, they call it Tilcayo.
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they → call → it
And when you ask, ‘Does it have some meaning in Quechua or Almyra and other indigenous languages?’ they say, ‘No, my grandpa told me that’s the Tilcayo,’” Nogales-Ascarrunz said.
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Ascarrunz → ask → me
“This is a traditional knowledge that they have in the community.
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they → have → community
We want to preserve that knowledge and we didn’t want to give it another name.”
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we → want → name
It’s not rare for scientists to add a mammal species to the taxonomy — they do so about 65 times a year, according to a study released last year.
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they → ’ → study
But many of those new species — including some recently named wild cats — are the results of a split.
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many → include → split
That’s when scientists realize what was once a single species has sufficient genetic distinctions to become two.
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was → ’ → distinctions
For example, the Sunda clouded leopard found on the island of Borneo — called Neofelis diardi — was first recognized in 2006 when its genome was distinguished from its mainland counterparts.
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genome → find → counterparts
“We didn’t have specimens in museums,” de Oliveira said.
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Oliveira → have → museums
“It had never been collected before.”
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It → collect → ?
Nogales-Ascarrunz said this new species is likely in danger.
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species → say → danger
She views the discovery as yet another argument in favor of conservation.
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She → view → conservation
“It’s a new reason to protect the world,” she said.
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she → ’ → world
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