@natgeo
National GeographicNew cat alert! A call from a wildlife sanctuary about a "weird cat" has led to the first new cat species discovered in over 100 years. Smaller than an average housecat and covered in leopard-like spots, the cat species—proposed name Leopardus tilcayo—lives in Bolivia’s Yungas forest ecoregion, and very little is known about its day-to-day life in the wild. Its discovery is redrawing the branches of the cat family tree, and researchers hope the methods used to identify it could be used to find even more new cat species around the world. Learn more about this feline surprise at the 🔗 in bio.
On the profile · Sep 17, 2026