Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz and Jonas Lescroart identify Leopardus tilcayo in Bolivia
Technology
Meet Leopardus tilcayo, a brand-new wild cat species just discovered in Bolivia's Yungas region, the first new wild cat found in more than 100 years.
Researchers Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz and Jonas Lescroart figured out Tilcayo was different by looking at DNA data from 38 examples from several countries and analyzing photos from camera traps.
Tilcayo 46-centimeter nocturnal cloud-forest cat threatened
Tilcayo is about 46cm long, with light brown fur and irregularly shaped rosettes across its body.
It lives up in the cloud forests, hunts at night, and probably snacks on rodents.
Sadly, its home is threatened by deforestation and mining.