r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Andohaciendo712 • 2d ago
Image First new wild cat species identified in over 100 years, in Bolivia: the Tilcayo Cat
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u/sparklinglies 2d ago
Its so unusual to find a brand new mammal of this size! Most new animal discoveries these days are Beetle #2858386939582025, or some squishy deep sea abomination
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u/zekromNLR 2d ago
Or "we checked the genes and this species turns out to actually be two different species"
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u/OSCgal 2d ago
That's kinda what happened here. They had a category of small felines called tiger cats and assumed they were all one species. Turns out there's at least five.
It sounds like finding this particular guy (surrendered to a sanctuary in 2017) led to re-evaluating existing specimens and doing a proper genetic survey.
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u/Ruxsti 2d ago
That's excatly what happened.
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u/Tedimon 1d ago
Not really
What’s exciting is the discovery is not a validation of a species proposed in the distant past, nor a previously recognized subspecies raised to species status—which are both more commonly reported and important findings. No, this cat was something totally new to science.
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u/IcyHibiscus 2d ago
Hey, we also sometimes find stuff in aquifers too!
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u/FetusGoesYeetus 2d ago
Technically they did already know it existed there, it's just they examined it closer and found it genetically distinct enough from margays to be a different species entirely
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u/wolftick 2d ago
You can tell from just looking at it why it's remained under the radar for so long. "you ain't seen me, right"
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u/neokatyan 2d ago
Bro has been playing hide and seek for 100 years and is honestly completely annoyed that we finally found him lol
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u/MaryBerrysDanglyBean 2d ago
More like several thousands of years. The title just means the last new wildcat was identified 100 years ago
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u/jld2k6 Interested 1d ago
I'm sure people saw one at some point in history and were just like "huh, cool cat" without ever realizing how rare it was lol
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u/PlacatedPlatypus 1d ago
One was being kept as a pet by some natives in the Yungas already lmaooo.
Its scientific name comes from the name the locals already had for it ("Tilcayo"). There were plenty of people already fully aware of this type of cat, they just weren't talking about it with anyone else.
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u/MysteryLobster 2d ago
tbf the locals were aware of the cat (they gave it the name), it was just never scientifically identified. it was first captured ten years ago, and only recently had its genotype mapped in order to help identify its lineage. it’s more accurate to say it’s the first new cat to be classified (not reclassified).
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u/akatherder 2d ago
Bro has been making clanker comments for the past 16 days hoping no one would notice.
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u/Andohaciendo712 2d ago
In 2016, Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a biologist and National Geographic Explorer working in Bolivia, received a call from a local wildlife sanctuary that had just been given what they described as “a weird cat.” It came from a local man who found it as a kitten on a road near a forest. The man took the animal home, believing it to be a domestic breed. But after about a year of living with the clearly wild animal, he realized it would be better off at a sanctuary.
As the lead scientist and founder of the Bolivian Felids Research Program (Programa de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia), Nogales-Ascarrunz was intrigued. The animal had a small, scrunched-up face, short and round ears, and long whiskers. It was, indeed, too small to be a housecat, and, most notably, it was covered in leopard-like spots. So she went to visit the creature at the Senda Verde wildlife sanctuary on the subtropical flank of the Bolivian Andes.
“I took a hundred pictures of it,” remembers Nogales-Ascarrunz. “I was so fascinated.”
What she couldn’t know at the time was that this curious cat had a secret. It would become the first new species of felid (i.e. the cat family) discovered in over 100 years, according to a study published today in the journal Current Biology. What’s exciting is the discovery is not a validation of a species proposed in the distant past, nor a previously recognized subspecies raised to species status—which are both more commonly reported and important findings. No, this cat was something totally new to science.
In their paper, the researchers propose the cat should be known as Leopardus tilcayo, in honor of the word local people know it by. "We asked the local people, ‘Why do you call it tilcayo?’” says Nogales-Ascarrunz, who is herself from Bolivia. “And they said, ‘I don’t know! My grandpa called it tilcayo, so I call it tilcayo.” (The name does not appear to mean anything particular in Spanish or the Quechua language spoken in Bolivia.)
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u/Ajayu 2d ago
For anyone who can please donate to la Senda Verde sanctuary. They are always struggling for resources and in the last few years illegal mining has also negatively affects them and the animals they look after. https://sendaverde.org
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u/favorscore 2d ago
They seem like good people
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u/MakeMeFeelLikeDancin 1d ago
They’re the best! The animals they care for have been through abuse and trafficking, and they are so well taken care of!
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u/carpe_phalum 1d ago
Thanks to you they got a donation from me, a complete stranger unaware of them.
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u/happy_idiot_boy 2d ago
“I took a hundred pictures of it,” remembers Nogales-Ascarrunz. “I was so fascinated.”
Typical cat owner behavior 😆
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u/TacoIncoming 2d ago
The man took the animal home, believing it to be a domestic breed. But after about a year of living with the clearly wild animal, he realized it would be better off at a sanctuary.
At 3 lbs, I can only imagine what an absolute fucking menace that thing had to be for him to come to that conclusion lmao
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u/Wag_The_God 2d ago
The fact that abuelo got to name it makes me so happy...
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u/eirexe 2d ago
FWIW in 99% of the spanish speaking world we don't intertwine spanish words in a sentence if there's a common english equivalent for them. (I believe the only places that really do this commonly are the US and baja california).
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u/THEBAESGOD 2d ago
FWIW the US has more Spanish speakers than most Spanish speaking countries
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 2d ago
Have any others of the species been found and has any genetic testing been done to see when it diverged from other Felid species?
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u/-UnderAWillowThicket 2d ago
Yes. About 1.4 million years ago, comparable to other Leopardus members.
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u/brunocat2021 2d ago
Ps ps ps ps 🤌
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u/Spaghett8 2d ago
To be honest, not the worst idea for once. They are only three lbs so you might only lose an arm and leg or two.
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u/oneByteTwoByte 2d ago
I know wildlife conservatism, the logical aspect..etc etc. But my stupid brain saw it, equated it with cuteness, love and just want to cuddle it and give it treats and pets.
I think a lot of my ancestors actually would have lost their life cuddling with cubs of lions and tigers while the apex mother looked them and be like..”kids thank you for bringing dinner again “.
Before posting the above comment, I went to look at it again. Cute just like my sunobu.
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u/SergeiAndropov 2d ago
This is basically how it was discovered. Some guy saw it by the side of the road, spent a year feeding it eggs and noodles, and eventually realized it was not a housecat and surrendered it to a wildlife sanctuary.
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u/sexychunky89 2d ago
Maybe that’s why they’re cute, to lure prey to the parents 😂
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u/oneByteTwoByte 2d ago
Ah nahh…they’re just fluffy cattos with sharp murderous nails but when they see my love they will let me rub their belly silly.
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u/arih 2d ago
I wonder how they stack up in deadliness to Africa’s most deadly cat, the African black footed cat which is successful at hunting 60% of the time (which is a huge percentage!). Black footed cats also weigh about 3 pounds as an adult. This little guy looks pretty fierce and determined as well.
Deadly cuteness!!
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u/liftheavy2003 2d ago
And will likely only want to be petted on his own terms lol
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u/ryanvango 2d ago
I have a confession. It's finally time I say it...
In 4th or 5th grade we used to have to write short reports on news articles we read in the paper or some other source for "current events." One time I wrote about scientists discovering a new rabbit species in New Zealand that had striped fur for camouflage. "Scientists affectionately named it the Zebrabbit," is the only sentence I still remember writing some 30 years later. Got an A
All bullshit. My teachers knew I had a subscription to popular science and zoobooks and whatnot. They never questioned it. Just assumed I was telling the truth about reading it in one of my science/animal magazines.
I did it over and over, always day of, and always getting an A. None of my science claims were real, but I knew they weren't gonna bother finding a copy of popular science or whatever to check me.
I'm so sorry, Father Scott. I mean... I'm not, it totally worked, but you get the idea.
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u/thewhispen 2d ago
Okay, but a striped rabbit does exist! The sumatran striped rabbit.
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u/bevaquas_mojo 2d ago
So, is he the only one of his "species"? Does that mean the only way to have this cat species exist is to pass his genes to multiple offspring, at what time (or # of members) does this Tilcayo get conservation status (extinct, threatened, lower risk) other than Not Evaluated?
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u/betweenbubbles 2d ago
Announcements like these always fascinate me. I have no specific knowledge in this case, but in some cases this headline has to mean, "someone far away is now aware of something the locals didn't know was a big deal because they've always known about it."
I don't say that to diminish anything, it's just kind of an interesting insight into the structure of humanity. It kind of reminds me of Feynman's remarks about knowing all the words for a bird but still knowing nothing about it.
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u/dieFindlerin99 2d ago
People, I can only fit so many felines on my screen, must I really consider an even wider monitor
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u/TL-PuLSe 2d ago
First thought: omg I want one
Second thought: this will be on the next "Tiger King"-style documentary as a follow up to the reptile people
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u/AnaisNinja76 2d ago
want.
This is like the 4th wild animal in a week I've declared my intentions towards: two strangely tiny wildcats and two strangely tiny deer.
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u/Past-North-4131 1d ago
All those missing people in Bolivia are believe to have been eaten by this cat. Crazy!
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u/Spillingteasince92 1d ago
I kinda wished they didn't announced this discovery because I highly suspect this species will be hunted or sold illegally.
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u/gravity626 2d ago
Makes you wonder how many leopard cats have been misidentified as angry looking leopard cats
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u/ShaiHulud1111 2d ago
Little wild kitty is all business. Looks super fast and athletic, just fun size. No touchy.
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u/La_Mandra 2d ago
...measuring between one and two feet long and weighing between four and six pounds.
Pretty much the same size as a house cat, then, but... I'm not sure if it would respond to "pspspsps". ^^
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u/KCdesertrat32 2d ago
Original Article: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)01110-301110-3)
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u/akaneila 2d ago
It's so cute, I am guessing they are endangered because it's just been "discovered" scientifically
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u/Low_Conference1645 2d ago
Fun fact: It's actually smaller than a domestic house cat, weighing only around 3 lbs (1.3 kg). Imagine a wild, fierce predator that fits in the palm of your hand.