Scientists Find First New Cat in 100 Years

scienceSep 23, 2026·295 words·3 min read

Scientists have found a new species of wild cat in the cloud forests of Bolivia. It is the first new living cat species to be officially described in more than 100 years. The small cat has been named Leopardus tilcayo, after the name local people use for it, and it lives in the mountainous Yungas region. It is about 46 centimetres long and weighs around 1.4 kilograms, so it is smaller than most pet cats.

A local person found the cat near the forest and thought it was a pet kitten. But it did not behave like a house cat, so it was sent to a wildlife sanctuary, a safe place for animals. There, a biologist called Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz saw that it looked different from other small spotted cats. Her team studied the DNA of 38 cats. DNA is the code inside every living thing. They found that this cat is a separate species.

Scientists still know very little about the new cat. One researcher said it "was hiding because nobody was looking". Only one living cat is confirmed: a 10-year-old male called Tigrino. Researchers believe more of these cats live in the wild. Experts may now list the cat as endangered, because its forests are being cut down and burned.

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