For the first time in more than 100 years, scientists have formally described a brand-new living cat species.

Meet the Leopardus tilcayo, also known as the Tilcayo cat — a small spotted wild cat found in the Yungas cloud forests of Bolivia, on the eastern side of the Andes.

At first glance, it may look like an unusual house cat or a miniature leopard. But DNA analysis revealed something much more surprising: this cat belongs to its own distinct branch of the cat family and had been evolving separately from other tiger cats for around 1.4 million years.

In this video, we explore everything scientists currently know about the Tilcayo — where it lives, how it was discovered, what its DNA revealed, what it eats, whether it is active at night, how many may exist, what threatens it, and why this discovery could change what scientists know about small wild cats.

But there are still major unanswered questions about this newly recognized species.

How many Tilcayos are actually living in the wild? How far does its range extend? And what else could scientists discover as they continue studying the Yungas?

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