Tiny spotted tilcayo cat found in Bolivia is first new cat in a century

Scientists have identified a new wild cat in Bolivia, the first new cat species described in more than 100 years.

The animal is Leopardus tilcayo, known as the tilcayo tiger cat. Its discovery was disclosed in the scientific journal Current Biology. It lives in the Bolivian Yungas, the cloud forest where the Andes mountains meet the Amazon basin NBC News.

It could fit in your arms. The tilcayo is smaller than a typical housecat, with a slender build and round ears GameSpot. Its fur is light brown in colour, patterned with spots and rosettes across its body Reuters.

The first animal examined was mistaken for a pet. A man from a forest community near La Paz found the tiny spotted cat and thought it was a domestic kitten. He fed it noodles, rice and eggs before taking it to Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary near La Paz.

That kindness led to science. Genetic testing on tissue from two cats that turned up at Senda Verde showed both animals were unique. They belonged to the same previously undocumented species. The study lists two biological samples from La Paz, labelled L2 and L8. The lineage diverged from other tiger cat lineages about 1.4 million years ago.

The team behind the find is small and local. Co-author Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz leads a wild cat conservation programme, the Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia, and volunteers at Senda Verde. Her conservation work is funded by National Geographic. Fellow co-author Tadeu de Oliveira is an ecologist at the State University of Maranhão in Brazil. The new study recognises five tiger cat species in South America.

The name is not new. Local communities in Bolivia have called the cat tilcayo for generations. Researchers kept that name to preserve traditional community knowledge rather than invent another one.

Much is still unknown. Nogales-Ascarrunz said it is currently unknown how many tilcayo tiger cats remain in the wild. One individual resides at the Senda Verde Animal Refuge in Bolivia's Yungas region, described as the only known individual of the species living in protective captivity Discover Wildlife.

What makes this stand out is how close it was. A forest cat ate noodles in a kitchen. Then DNA showed science had missed it for a century.