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New tiger cat species discovered
The gist
A study in Current Biology describes Leopardus tilcayo.
The small Bolivian cat shows how much biodiversity remains unknown and why its vanishing forest matters.
How it unfolded
- 1775The original tiger cat L. tigrinus was described from a single illustration of an animal seen in French Guiana.
- 2013A study showed that Leopardus tigrinus was actually at least two species: L. tigrinus in the northern half of South America and Leopardus guttulus in the southern half.
- 2016Biologist Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz received a call from a Bolivian wildlife sanctuary that had been given what they described as 'a weird cat'.