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New Wild Cat Species Identified in Bolivia After 100 Years
Confirmed
In Short: Researchers have identified a new species of wild cat in Bolivia, the first such discovery in over a century.
Researchers have identified a new species of wild cat in Bolivia, the first such discovery in over a century. The species, named Leopardus tilcayo, was described in the journal Current Biology.
According to Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, who co-authored the study, the discovery is significant because it is a cat, which is rare for newly identified species.
The new species was found in Bolivia’s Yungas forest, a mountainous region with high humidity and dense vegetation. It is about the size of a small domestic cat, with light brown fur and irregularly shaped rosettes.
Nogales-Ascarrunz noted that local communities in Bolivia have long been aware of the species' presence, but it was only recently confirmed through genetic analysis.
The study revealed that what was previously considered a single species of tiger cat actually comprises five distinct species, with the Bolivian species diverging from others about 1.4 million years ago.
Researchers used genetic data from 38 cats sampled across several South American countries to confirm the new species. However, knowledge of the tilcayo remains limited, with only two live individuals examined and a small number of camera-trap records.
What's confirmed
- For the first time in a century, researchers say they’ve identified a new species of wild cat previously unknown to science.
- “Its fur is light brown … with irregularly shaped rosettes across its body,” said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic explorer and one of the authors of the study describing the newly identified species published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.
- Tiger cats are so-called cryptic species, meaning they cannot easily be distinguished merely by appearance, said evolutionary biologist and study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp in Belgium.
- The study found that tiger cats are in fact five genetically distinct species.
- “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,” Lescroart said.
- “The more differences in their DNA, the longer the time that we estimate those lineages to have been physically separated,” Lescroart said, adding that such a gap is generally considered a species-level divide in cats.
- “This made us wonder: what tiger cat do we actually have in Bolivia?” The team analysed DNA from 38 cats sampled across several South American countries, including eight museum specimens.
What's still developing
- Unsurprisingly, most newly discovered animal species are small in size, said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, who co-authored the study and leads a wild cat conservation program called Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia (Bolivian Felid Research and Conservation Program).
- “This time, it’s a cat. That’s really novel. And it hasn’t happened in 100 years,” she said.
- The results from those specimens revealed that the two cats were unique and from the same species, which had diverged from other tiger cat lineages about 1.4 million years ago.
- It’s not rare for scientists to add a mammal species to the taxonomy — they do so about 65 times a year, according to a study released last year.
- Nogales-Ascarrunz said this new species is likely in danger.
- That could give a more accurate picture of risk, Lescroart said, and species such as the tilcayo could be considered endangered when assessed on their own.
- “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 at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and senior author of the study.
- Referring to the new species, Lescroart said: “Our information at this moment is limited to the two live individuals that we examined, and a small number of camera-trap records.” One of the live cats is a 10-year-old male that now lives in the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary in Bolivia after being kept by a local family in their home.