This ‘weird cat’ had scientists stunned—It’s a new species discovered after 100 years

The finding is significant because it represents the first new felid species discovered in more than a century. The previous new cat species was the pampas cat, described in 1923.

A wildlife sanctuary’s call about a “weird cat” in Bolivia ultimately led scientists to identify the first new felid species discovered in more than 100 years. The animal has been proposed as a new species called Leopardus tilcayo. The discovery was detailed in a study published in the journal Current Biology.

The animal, initially mistaken for a known tiger cat species, was later found through genetic analysis to have a distinct place on the cat family tree.

How a ‘weird cat’ sparked the discovery

According to a report by National Geographic, in 2016, Bolivian biologist and National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz received a call from a local wildlife sanctuary about an unusual animal. A man had found the kitten on a road near a forest and taken it home, believing it was a domestic cat. About a year later, he realised the animal was wild and would be better off at a sanctuary.

Nogales-Ascarrunz, founder and lead scientist of the Bolivian Felids Research Program, visited the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary on the eastern flank of the Bolivian Andes.

The small animal had a distinctive face, short rounded ears, long whiskers and leopard-like spots.

“I took a hundred pictures of it,” Nogales-Ascarrunz recalled, according to National Geographic. “I was so fascinated.”

A clue hidden in its spots

At first, Nogales-Ascarrunz believed the animal belonged to Leopardus tigrinus, commonly known as the tiger cat, tigrina or oncilla. The species had been described in 1775 and was believed to occur across parts of Central and South America, including Bolivia.

But in 2019, while preparing a booklet on Bolivia’s cat species, she noticed something unusual. The cat she had photographed had much larger rosettes than those shown in reference photographs of tiger cats from neighbouring Brazil.

“This is so wrong,” she thought.

The mystery remained unresolved for several years until Nogales-Ascarrunz developed the genetic expertise needed to study the animal’s genome.

DNA reveals a species new to science

Working with geneticist Eduardo Eizirik of Brazil’s Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul and University of Antwerp researcher Jonas Lescroart, Nogales-Ascarrunz helped establish that the animal was genetically distinct from other tiger cats.

The researchers propose the name Leopardus tilcayo, based on the local name used for the animal.

Genomic analysis of 38 individuals from across the Leopardus genus showed that L. tilcayo had diverged from other tiger cats about 1.4 million years ago.

First new felid since 1923

According to National Geographic, L. tilcayo is the first newly discovered felid species since the pampas cat in 1923.

The findings also change scientists’ understanding of tiger cats. What was once considered a single species is now recognised as a complex containing five species.

The newly identified cat is known to inhabit Bolivia’s Yungas forest ecoregion, but scientists still do not know how many survive in the wild, what they eat or how they reproduce.

The discovery could also have important conservation consequences. If several genetically distinct species are grouped together, their individual populations may appear more secure than they actually are.

“Our world is extremely complex,” Nogales-Ascarrunz said. “Even in the cats, there are things out there that are undescribed.”