CLP alumna Paola Ascarrunz-Nogales has been all over the international news recently due to an amazing discovery she made in the cloud forests of Bolivia: the identification of a cat species that was not previously known to science.
The cat, Leopardus tilcayo – called tilcayo by local communities – is part of a group called tiger cats found across much of South America. It is the first new wildcat species discovered in over a century.
The new species of wildcat, Leopardus tilcayo, identified by CLP alumna Paola Ascarrunz-Nogales © Fernando Faciole/National Geographic
The news has recently been covered extensively in the international media, including in The Guardian, ABC News, BBC, ITV, Scientific American, National Geographic, Mongabay, and Smithsonian Magazine (among many others).
Smaller than a domestic cat, and with spots similar to a leopard’s, the tilcayo has long been known to local communities in the Bolivian Yungas cloud forests. But scientists have only just recently formally identified it as a completely separate species from all other tiger cats. Leading the identification was Paola, who realised the discovery by accident while volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary (Senda Verde Animal Refuge). She noticed that a wildcat brought into a sanctuary seemed different to other existing species.
Subsequent research led by Paola alongside other scientists included genetic analysis of 38 cats, which distinguished it from closely related Leopardus species. The description was co-authored by Paola and recently published in Current Biology.
Paola was supported by a CLP Future Conservationist Award in 2020, which filled knowledge gaps about small felids in Bolivia’s Chiquitania-dry forest and built a strong foundation for conservation actions, including those already in progress and those to be implemented in the future.
Paola explains that her CLP project played a key role in the new species discovery. “My CLP project had originally planned to investigate the presence of Leopardus guttulus (the southern tiger cat) in Bolivia. At the time, I thought the individual at Senda Verde was L. guttulus, which is a species that had not been reported in Bolivia.
Because of this, the very first genetic test I did on the Senda Verde individual was actually carried out using the reagents I had purchased with the CLP grant. So, I wrote in the acknowledgements of the paper – ‘Paola is supported by CLP to work with tiger cats’ because the CLP project had already led me to start investigating the Senda Verde individual.”
Paola doing fieldwork as part of her CLP project © Paola Nogales Ascarrunz
Other significant achievements from Paola’s CLP project included reaching over 400 residents of the Chiquitania dry forest, which revealed insights on locals’ perceptions and ecological knowledge of felids in the study area, and methods they use to avoid conflict with wildcats.
Paola and her team subsequently encouraged conflict resolution by promoting management and coexistence, and raised awareness about wild cats among the local communities, particularly among schoolchildren.
CLP has continued to support Paola’s professional development and conservation impact beyond her 2020 award. This includes a CLP-supported Learning Exchange, in which Paola connected with CLP alumnus and fellow wildcat researcher and conservationist, Mauro Lucherini, from Argentina.
CLP alumni, Mauro Lucherini and Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, on a field expedition in Bolivia as part of a CLP Learning Exchange © Paola Nogales Ascarrunz
Supported by CLP, Mauro visited Paola in Bolivia where they could discuss translocation of wildcats as a possible solution for wildcat-human conflicts. Mauro showed Paola how to deploy camera traps (to monitor translocated cats) and together they visited an ongoing wildcat conservation project in Brazil – “Felinos do Pampa” (Wild Cats of the Pampa Conservation Project) – where they learned telemetry techniques and strengthened bonds with other conservationists to help protect wildcats across South America.
A jaguar captured by a camera traps deployed during Paola’s CLP Learning Exchange © Paola Nogales Ascarrunz