How Scientists Identified a New Wildcat Species Hidden in Bolivia’s Forests
Somewhere in the forests of Bolivia, a small spotted cat has been living unrecognized for generations. Researchers now say it is a species of its own, not just a regional form of a known wildcat. They have proposed the name Leopardus tilcayo, honoring the word local people already use for it.
National Geographic has described the find as the first new cat species discovered in a century. It is also a reminder of how much can remain hidden in plain sight.
A Cat That Looked Too Familiar
The new cat belongs to a group that makes field identification difficult. South America’s small spotted cats, often collectively called tiger cats, share similar size, shape, and patterning. Their coats vary from place to place, so a local population can easily be mistaken for a known species elsewhere. The Bolivian cat appears to have been one of those cases: while the species is only now being recognized, the animals themselves have likely been encountered, photographed, or even held in captivity all along.
What changed was a closer look at what those encounters represented. Rather than treating every similar spotted cat as the same species, researchers examined the Bolivian animals as a separate group and concluded they stood apart. Early reporting does not detail the full set of comparisons, but the result is a formal scientific identity.
Only one confirmed living member of the species is known, a cat in a rescue sanctuary in Bolivia. Scientists believe other individuals exist in the wild, but no wild population has been confirmed yet.
A Name With Local Roots
Fox Weather reported that community members suggested the cat be called Leopardus tilcayo, using the name they know it by. That is unusual. New species are often given names chosen by scientists far from the animal’s home range. Here, the people who share the landscape helped supply its scientific identity.
Why the Name Matters for Conservation
The discovery is more than a taxonomic novelty. Dr Caroline Sartor, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, told the BBC that a species cannot be protected if researchers do not know what it is or where it lives. Without a recognized name, a species has no place in extinction risk assessments, monitoring programs, or legal protections.
That has real consequences here. Until now, Leopardus tilcayo was missing from conservation assessments. Meanwhile, the tiger cat group as a whole is considered vulnerable to extinction, threatened by deforestation, habitat loss, and illegal hunting.
With only one known living individual and no confirmed population data, the immediate task is fieldwork. Scientists need to find where the cat survives, estimate how many exist, and identify the pressures they face. The formal description gives that work a clear target. It turns an overlooked cat into a species that can finally be counted.