A mysterious spotted feline once dismissed as a 'weird cat' has turned out to be something scientists had not documented before: a new species whose evolutionary lineage separated from other tiger cats around 1.4 million years ago.
The animal, now identified as Leopardus tilcayo, was first encountered by researchers in Bolivia in 2016 after spending about a year with a local man who had mistaken it for a domestic kitten. Genetic research has now established its distinct place on the feline family tree, according to a study published in Current Biology.
