DNA reveals new 3-pound wild cat species in Bolivia after a century

The biggest mystery is how many tilcayo cats are actually living in the wild. Researchers currently cannot determine the species' full range, partly because small tiger cats are notoriously difficult to identify through camera-trap surveys. A tiny wild cat living quietly in the Bolivian Andes has turned out to be something scientists have been searching for without quite knowing it. Weighing barely three pounds, the animal spent years being mistaken for other small spotted cats. Only after researchers compared its DNA with samples from dozens of wild felines did they realise they were looking at something entirely different. The discovery of Leopardus tilcayo, now known as the tilcayo cat, marks the description of the first new living feline species in more than a century, states a Discover Wildlife report.An unexpected discoveryAccording to the report, the story began in 2017, when a male wild cat was brought to the Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary after a local family that had been caring for him turned him over to the sanctuary. Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, a wild cat conservationist and National Geographic Explorer, encountered the animal while volunteering there. Its unusual appeara...