New wild cat species discovered - with only one known living member

Only one confirmed member of the species is known - a cat living in a rescue sanctuary in Bolivia - but scientists believe others exist.It was this 10-year-old cat, nicknamed 'Tigrino', that set scientists on the path to discovery. Bolivian scientist Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz was volunteering at the sanctuary when she noticed the cat looked unusual.It had been found in the forest by a local resident, who initially thought it was a domestic kitten. As it grew older, however, it became clear that it did not behave like a house cat.Dr Nogales-Ascarrunz had heard of other sightings of small wild cats in the dense forests of the country's Yungas region, but these had not been investigated by scientists.To solve the mystery, she joined forces with other researchers from around the world to investigate the family history of tiger cats, using DNA from living animals and museum specimens."There's so few records or pictures, no individual in a museum, so it was hiding because nobody was looking," said Eduardo Eizirik, a conservation geneticist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.The study, published in Current Biology, external, uncovered further surprises, suggesting there are five rather than three tiger cat species, including the newly described Tilcaya cat (Leopardus tilcayo) of Bolivia.