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https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/new-wild-cat-species-identified-rcna598113>
"For the first time in a century, researchers say they’ve identified a new
species of wild cat previously unknown to science.
Leopardus tilcayo — or the tilcayo tiger cat — is slender and spotted, with
rounded ears. It is smaller than a typical house cat and lives in the Bolivian
Yungas, the cloud forest where the Andes mountains meet the Amazon basin. The
species was described for the first time in the journal
Current Biology on
Thursday.
It’s rare to find a new, relatively large mammal. Unsurprisingly, most newly
discovered animal species are small in size, said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, who
co-authored the study and leads a wild cat conservation program called Programa
de Investigación de Félidos Bolivia (Bolivian Felid Research and Conservation
Program).
“This time, it’s a cat. That’s really novel. And it hasn’t happened in 100
years,” she said. “No one else had named it. No one else had described it.”
The size of the
Leopardus tilcayo population is not clear yet.
“We really don’t know how many cats are still in the wild,” said
Nogales-Ascarrunz, whose work as a conservationist is funded by
National
Geographic. “We need science, we need more studies to answer this question,
which is actually critical for its conservation.”
Tiger cats — small, wild cats in the
Leopardus genus native to South and
Central America — face stiff conservation challenges as development and
agriculture expand.
The new study says there are five tiger cat species in South America."
Via Susan ****
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*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
