There is something important we should clarify about this discovery: while the tilcayo might be new to science, it certainly isn't new to the people who have been sharing its home for generations. In fact, local communities in Bolivia's Yungas forests already had a name for this tiny spotted feline long before scientists formally identified it. According to National Geographic's reporting, Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz asked residents why they called the animal “tilcayo." Their answer? Their grandparents had called it that, too.
It may not sound impurrtant, but it's actually a very impurrtant distinction. When the internet hears that scientists have discovered a new animal, it might tend to imagine someone stumbling through an unexplored jungle and encountering a creature no hooman has ever seen before. But, sometimes, the animal has been there all along, and the people living alongside it have known about it for generations.
The actual scientific breakthrough was confirming through genetic research that the tilcayo belongs to a distinct species, rather than another already-recognized tiny leopard cat.
So yes, this is an incredible scientific discovery. But it is also a lovely reminder that scientific knowledge and local knowledge can complement each other. Sometimes the world's most exciting discoveries aren't new at all. We're just finally hearing a story that someone's grandpa has been telling his grandkids for years now.
As something of a feline expurrt myself, I can confirm two things:
- This cat is, in fact, a cat. How do I know? Because it bleps. And all cats blep. Even wild ones. Even big ones (have you ever seen a tiger blep? It's meowgnificnet). So yes, this new cat is in fact a cat and follows the rules of all cat species. Bleps included.
- I really want to “Pspsspspspspsps” it. I might pass over the rainbow bridge while petting it, but it would be a glorious way to go out. Remember me, and know that I got to pet this cat and you didn't.
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