Cat from a Bolivian shelter turns out to be a wild feline species unknown to science
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At the Senda Verde wildlife shelter in Bolivia lives a cat named Tigrino, who has unexpectedly turned out to belong to a species of wild feline previously unknown to science. The discovery was made by an international team of researchers based on genetic analysis — after the little animal had spent years living side by side with humans before biologists uncovered his true nature.
Tigrino's story began in 2017, when he was brought to the Senda Verde shelter, nestled in the forests of the Yungas region. Before that, he had spent about a year with a local family, who initially mistook him for an ordinary kitten. Over time, it became clear that the animal could never be fully tamed, and his owners handed him over to specialists who rescue wild animals confiscated from illegal traders or rescued from unsuitable living conditions.
A biologist's suspicions
Even at the shelter, Tigrino was long considered simply an unusually small member of the so-called tiger cats — a group of small spotted predators from the genus Leopardus. Everything changed in 2019, when he was examined by Bolivian biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, who was compiling a guide to local predators.
"I couldn't believe how small he was. I thought he had to be a cub or a very young animal," she recalled later. But Tigrino was already a fully grown adult by that time. He also stood out from his relatives thanks to larger, irregularly shaped spots on his coat.
What the genetic tests revealed
Genetic research finally dispelled all doubt. An international team of scientists compared the DNA of 38 cats from the genus Leopardus collected from various regions of South America, including samples from museum collections. The result was sensational: Tigrino isn't simply a small representative of a known species, but part of an entirely separate evolutionary lineage that split off from its closest relatives roughly 1.4 million years ago.
The new species was named Leopardus tilkayo, after the name used by local residents. It marks the first new living feline species described by science in over a hundred years. Tigrino himself remains the only known individual of this species permanently living under human care — due to his age and long time in captivity, returning him to the wild is no longer possible.
Adult tilkayo cats reach about 46 centimeters in length and weigh roughly 1.4 kilograms — making them smaller than an average house cat. In the wild, this species inhabits the cloud forests of Bolivia's Yungas region. So far, scientists know of only two living individuals and a handful of camera-trap images.
Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz
