An unusual cat turned out to be a previously unknown species — the tilcayo. It lives in the Yungas forests on the eastern slopes of the Bolivian Andes.
The tilcayo was found back in 2016 and was initially taken for an oncilla, a small spotted cat from South America. In 2019, biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrruns noticed differences from known species. For almost five years, scientists compared the tilcayo’s genetic data with that of related cats. The analysis confirmed that it is a separate evolutionary lineage that split from its nearest common ancestor about 1.4 million years ago.
Very little is known about the new cat so far. Scientists still need to find out what it eats, how it reproduces, and how large its population is. An exact classification will help determine how rare the species is and whether it needs special protection.
