Science Friday - The tilcayo is the new wild cat on the block

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Big news for tiny cats: an itty-bitty three-pound spotted cat from Bolivia—called the tilcayo—is the first new wild cat species described in more than a hundred years. Tilcayo pics have been all over the news and social media, but there’s much more to tilcayo’s tale, including the surprising story behind its discovery. Flora chats with Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, the biologist who worked for nearly 10 years to describe this flashy feline. They also discuss how Paola met the tilcayo, why it was so hard to classify, and what the reaction has been in Bolivia.Guest:Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz is a National Geographic Explorer and biologist leading the Bolivian Felid Research and Conservation Program. She’s based in Bolivia. Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.  Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, it's Flora and you're listening to Science Friday. Big news in tiny cats. An itty-bitty three-pound spotted cat from Bolivia called the Tilkayo is the first new wild cat species described in more than a hundred years. So, Kio picks have been catnip on social media. I mean, it's adorable. It's grumpy looking in a characteristic cat way. But there's so much more to Tilkaio's tail. including the fascinating and kind of hard to believe story behind its discovery.

So today we're talking to the biologist who worked for nearly 10 years to describe this flashy feline. Paolo Nogales-Scaroons leads the Bolivian feedlet research and conservation program, which studies wildcats like jaguars, oscillates and margays. Paolo, welcome to Science Friday. Hi, Flora. Thank you for having me here in Science Friday. I'm so happy. I am so happy to have you. I feel like Tocayo's a celebrity. Would you agree? I totally agree. Like that cat is everywhere. You know, you open TikTok, you open Facebook or Instagram and the cat is there, which is amazing, isn't it? Like, we have a great celebrity. Like, we are not focusing on people talking about politics or showing like makeup. Our cat is like showing how beautiful it is.

Yes, more cat celebrities. 100% agree. Let's talk about this cat's backstory. How was it first found? Okay, so there was a guy in the Jungas forest. So it's not in the city or something like that. You know, imagine like a rural place. He was walking and he found a kitten in the road. And it was dirty and it was like raining.

So he took it and take it at home because it was like, you know, like a kitten. And then like the cat started like growing a little bit. but not that much. He told us that he lived with the cat one year, but the cat started like chasing the chickens, you know, like having weird behavior. It was not like a domestic cat. And that's how he realized that it was like a wild cat.

And he took it like to the rescue center, to the refuge, which is Senda Verde. He knew something was different. When did you in this cat meet? Okay, so I met when I went to Senda Verde, you know, like I did like some volunteer there. and it was the first time I saw this cat. It was in his enclosure, you know.

And the cat, the light started going down from his house, like, pretty, like, slow. And it was so slender and so tiny. I cannot like describe, like, I was so amazing because I were with cats, you know, and, like, I have the jaguars in my mind and I have oscillots which are big. And then you have, like, this tiny thing. And I remember I asked the people that are like, is this like a kitten? or a juvenile, like they told me, no, it's an adult. And I couldn't believe it because it was like really, really small and slender.

And then he went down and started, like, you know, walking really fast because I wanted to take pictures. And I took like nearly 100 pictures of the cat. But all the pictures are really awful, you know, like part of the ear, the tail, something like that. It was amazing. So you first met this cat in 2017. Why did it take so long to describe it as a new species? What was the work involved there? Okay, so I like, that was what we know about Leopardo Stegrinos, which was the species, you know?

So for me and for all the scientists here, that was a Lopardo Stegrenos. So that was not dubbed. That's the genus that it's a part of? Yes, it was the other species. Like all of these tiger cats were called Leopardustigrinos before our paper. That's the species this cat had been gripped into. Lepardis de Grides, also known. known as a tiger cat.

Yes. So this cat is, you know, it was a leopard of those de grinos for science. And for local, they have this name Tilkayo to differentiate this cat from the Geoffrey's cat, from the Olselod, from the Jagarundi, like, from the other cats in the region. So, like, when I realized, like, it was different, it was because I was writing a booklet, you know, so I check a book of cats. And I saw, like, the description of the cat, and there was a picture of a Brazilian one. And I saw the picture.

And then I saw like the cat I was saying. Of course the picture is like the book is so wrong. Like what happened with these people? And also the description was like the smallest spots. You know, it didn't match. And that's how I started doing the genetics. So the first time I did the genetics on these cats, the results were a mess. You know, like I was so young and I was so dumb.

So I did the genetic of this. You know, I first tried with saliva. I took saliva from the cat. the lab, I did the genetic analysis. And then I realized, like, the results didn't match. I was like, oh, my God, like, I'm so inexperienced in this. Like, I shouldn't do this anymore. And I didn't share that result with no one. The next time, like, I did the same with the right? Because it's like this. Of course, like, there is no, there is no way you can, like, you're going to say, like, you know, I discover something new. It's like, of course,

the first thing you think is that you are wrong. So then I try again with the, with, with, with, with with some hair and the result was the same. So I just leave it. I didn't continue because I was wrong. Then I got more training on genetics and I went back. And that's why it took like so much time because maybe sometimes we don't believe that we think like, you know, we discover something new. It's like, of course, the first thing as young people we think is that we are doing something wrong.

I've heard this from so many scientists. That's how you're trained to think that if you get a big giant result, you have to be very skeptical of it. Yes, totally. And also we were like, when we had the results, we were saying like, okay, we need to be sure. Like, okay, it's a new species, but let's be sure that it's not described it before. So we need to go to the museums to ask if there were another skins or like even we we try to learn about the naturalists. Like all scientists that came to Bolivia, like why they didn't do a description of this cat.

So it's like something that, you know, scientists we are always about maybe, depends of the species. We are not like, of course, of course it's new. You have to believe me. You know, science is, it's about being acceptable. What's been the reaction in Bolivia? Oh my God, everything is here is crazy. Everyone is so happy of the cat, you know. It's, it's like, like everyone start talking about the cat. You know, I use public transport. So I was in one of these buses. And I heard like people talking about the cat. And I was like, it is amazing. Like, people is talking about the cat.

Also, you know, politics wants to do like Attilcay allowed to protect the cat, which is like the good part of this. There is a lot of, also, like, there are initiatives of street art of the cat. Like, there are people that are doing walls. Like, it's in Spanish, but I'm going to try to translate like his long life to the cat and not to the president, you know, like to our actual president. So it's so beautiful. And also like, like in what are happening to Bolivia.

Because we basically are like in some problems. Let's say we have problems with dollars. We have problems. We don't have petrol. And we have like a lot of corruption. But we have a new cat and everyone is so excited. Like, yes, we have a cat and it's a Bolivia cat. So it's kind of like, I think like this cat bring happiness to my country, which is like really, really amazing for me at least.

Yeah. And it sounds like maybe new conservation approaches too. Yes, I think now people want to study the cat, and that would really be useful for the cat and also some other conservation actions. But not for the cat only, like let me talk about the jungas forests. You know, like no one care about this forest and they are ready like deforestation, there are old mining. So there are many things of these. And as a conservationist too, if we start like talking about like these umbrella species, we think about jaguars, bears, you know, like big mammals that usually are the umbrella species, you know, are flag species.

So where people like it and then they start doing conservation. And now I think like this tiny animal, it's a flag species because there are several organizations that want to do conservation of the jungas forest because the cat lit theirs and everyone loves the cat. So we need to protect the cat, which is kind of grateful because we are also protecting other species. Do you feel like small cats get the attention they deserve? I feel like we hear a lot about big wild cats, at least here in the U.S. Yeah, I think don't. Like, they don't.

I work in conservation of cats. And most of the grants I got are for protecting jaguars. So I always do like, okay, I'm going to do a workshop about protecting jaguars and also the cats. So let's do the family of cats, you know, so because it's so hard to get funding to do conservation of a small cat. You know, I've read that they're secretive. The small cats are secretive. Is that true?

Yeah, so it's something, you know, it's something unfair. Because if you're working with giraffes, you're going to see them. If you're going to with elephants, you're going to see elephants. But if you're working with a small cat, you're going to see as cats. Nothing else, you know. You can put a camera trap and maybe you're going to see an ear, you know, you're going to see a tail. It's not that easy to spot. And it's so hard to see them in the wild that is, you know, like you can spend like your life working with cats.

And maybe you never are going to see a small cat. So it's something really unfair for us that are cat lovers and want to do cats because there is like few opportunities to sew them. So, yeah, that's the ungrateful part of working with small cats. We talked to so many scientists on the show, and such a big part of their job is sort of like scrounging for funding, trying to make a case for their work and why it's important. And do you feel like you're at a turning point?

Yeah, so I'm going to tell something funny. I don't, okay, so to pay the bills, I don't do cats. I work with crops, and I do kinoa and I do kanoa and all, like, genetics of those to pay the bills. And I do just cat because I love them. And I, like, it's what I would like to do. And in this life, you have to be happy and you have to do the things that make you happy. So I want to, I want to believe that I'm in this story.

point and maybe I can get some grants and maybe like have an NGO like to have like some funds to do conservation of cats. But it didn't happen yet. You know, the cat just was discovered two weeks ago and I didn't have a call of any millionaire like saying like, you know, I'm going to give you this. Call me millionaires if you are interested in funding my job. I can give you my phone. But I didn't have this, that call yet. But I wish I have it. And I can just dedicate it. And I can just dedicate my life to do cats and not crops. Millionaire cat freaks, if you're listening, you know where to go. Tala, thank you for sharing your story with us. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much, Lauren. Thank you for sharing like this amazing news of our new cat in Bolivia, the Tilkayo, that from Bolivia to the world. The Tilkayo from Bolivia to the world. I love it. Paola Nogales-Askaroons is a National Geographic explorer and biologists leading the Bolivian FILID Research and Conservation Program. Before we go, let me just put this bug in your head. October is here, which means it is time to plan your Halloween costume. And I wanted to let you know that Science Friday's Nightmare on Nerd Street is rising from

the grave. That is our annual Halloween costume contest. So get out that sketchpad, fire up that hot glue gun, because we will be holding a contest for your nerdiest, most nightmarish costume. details coming soon, but just wanted to give you a severed heads up. This episode was produced by Rasha Auretti. Thank you for listening. I'm Flor Lichten.