Bolivia’s Tiny Wild Cat Mistaken For A House Pet Turns Out To Be A New Species

A tiny wild cat from Bolivia’s Yungas cloud forests has been identified as Leopardus tilcayo, or the tilcayo tiger cat, a distinct species previously mistaken for other felines. The discovery began with a kitten found beside a forest road and initially raised as a domestic pet. Genetic research later confirmed it belonged to a separate species that diverged from its closest relatives around 1.4 mi