Tiny Tilcayo: What you need to know about the new 1.4-kg cat species discovered after 100 years, initially mistaken for a kitten and fed noodles and rice

Scientists have identified a previously unknown species of wild cat in Bolivia’s cloud forests, marking the first time in more than a century that a new living cat species has been formally named and described.

The cat, known locally as Tilcayo, inhabits Bolivia’s Yungas, a mountainous cloud-forest region where the Andes meet the Amazon basin. Researchers have named the species Leopardus tilcayo and described their findings in the journal Current Biology.

The small, slender cat measures around 46 cm in length and weighs approximately 1.4 kg, making it smaller than an average domestic cat. It has light-brown fur, rounded ears and irregularly shaped rosettes across its body.


“It’s fur is light brown ... with irregularly shaped rosettes across its body,” said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic Explorer and co-author of the study, as reported by Reuters.

How scientists identified the mysterious Tilcayo

The discovery began when Nogales-Ascarrunz encountered an unusually small wild cat at the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary near La Paz, where she volunteers.

“I saw this cat, it was really, really small, and I couldn’t believe how small it was. I thought it was a kitten,” she told NBC News.

The animal had been brought to the sanctuary by a local man who initially mistook it for a domestic kitten. He had fed it noodles, rice and eggs before realising that it was a wild animal he could not care for.

Researchers initially believed the cat could belong to one of the known tiger cat species found elsewhere in South America. However, its physical characteristics did not correspond with existing descriptions.

“If you look at the spots or the tail, they really don’t match,” Nogales-Ascarrunz told NBC News.

The researchers then analysed DNA from 38 cats sampled across several South American countries, including eight museum specimens. The genetic analysis revealed that tiger cats actually comprise five distinct species.

The Tilcayo lineage was found to have diverged from other tiger cats around 1.4 million years ago. Researchers said the genetic distance was significant enough to represent a species-level distinction among cats.

“We never expected this Bolivian tiger cat to be a separate species, and no one had ever proposed it as a different animal, subspecies or otherwise,” said study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp, according to Reuters.

Locals knew the cat long before scientists

Although the cat was previously unknown to science, local communities in Bolivia have known about it for generations.

“This cat, they call it Tilcayo,” Nogales-Ascarrunz said, according to NBC News. She said community members told researchers that the name had been passed down from their grandparents.

The researchers retained the local name while assigning the species its scientific name, saying they wanted to acknowledge and preserve the traditional knowledge associated with the animal.

The researchers also identified a new tiger cat subspecies in Peru’s Yungas, naming it Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo after Antisuyu, a region of the former Inca Empire that included its habitat.

What scientists know about the newly identified cat

Scientists currently have limited information about Leopardus tilcayo. According to Reuters, their knowledge is based on two live individuals examined by researchers and a limited number of camera-trap records.

One of the live cats is a 10-year-old male that now lives at the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary after previously being kept by a local family.

Camera traps indicate that the species may be more active at night, while remains of small rodents found in scat samples suggest they could form part of its diet.

Why the new species could be at risk

The size of the wild Tilcayo population remains unknown.

“We really don’t know how many cats are still in the wild,” Nogales-Ascarrunz told NBC News, highlighting the need for further research to understand the species and determine its conservation needs.

The researchers have shared their findings with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is expected to assess the five tiger cat lineages separately in an upcoming review.

Tiger cats are currently classified by the IUCN as two vulnerable species with declining populations. A separate assessment could provide a clearer understanding of the threats facing each lineage, researchers said.

The Yungas region is itself under pressure from deforestation, agricultural expansion, human-caused fires and mining, according to Nogales-Ascarrunz.

Researchers said restoring forests damaged by fires, protecting remaining native forests and maintaining connections between habitats will be key priorities for conservation.

“Showing the general public that even in a flagship group such as cats ... there are still new species to be discovered may transmit an important message,” said Eduardo Eizirik, an evolutionary biologist and senior author of the study, according to Reuters.

“There are many undiscovered species out there in the world, and they are at risk of disappearing before we even discover them.”