New Wild Cat Species Found in Bolivia's Cloud Forest

Is the tilcayo the first new cat in a century or the fifth tiger cat hard to spot?
New Wild Cat Species Found in Bolivia's Cloud Forest
Above: Stock photo of Geoffroy's cat (Leopardus geoffroyi), which is native to southern and central South America. Image credit: Arterra/Philippe Clément/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The Spin


Narrative A

This is extremely exciting — a cat totally new to science, the first genuine felid species discovered in over a century. It isn't some old proposal finally validated or a subspecies bumped up in rank, which happens all the time. Credit belongs to the sharp-eyed Bolivian researcher who trusted her gut about those oversized rosettes and chased the genome until it confirmed the tilcayo.

Narrative B

This is the fifth tiger cat species now known to science — but most observers might never spot the difference. The tilcayo is beautiful but remarkably hard to distinguish from its close relatives, with all five tiger cats being morphologically similar and elusive. Genomic evidence is revealing just how much diversity was hiding beneath those nearly identical spotted coats.


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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 7.4.1

© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.

All rights reserved.

Version 7.4.1