Meet our Wild Cats!
Through our actions having the tiger-cats as our flagship species, we also directly benefit all other species of small cats at our sites, these include: ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), margay (Leopardus wiedii), jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), Brazilian black-footed cat (Leopardus braccatus), and also, to a smaller extent, Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) and the critically endangered Pampa cat (Leopardus munoai).
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Working in partnership with the Ocelot Working Group, Pampas Cat Working Group and Geoffroy's Cat Working Group.
A new species revealed!
Recently, the tiger-cat species complex was split into Leopardus tigrinus and Leopardus guttulus, along with other proposed schemes. We performed a detailed analysis integrating ecological modeling, biogeography, and phenotype of the four originally recognized subspecies — tigrinus, oncilla, pardinoides, guttulus—and presented a new multidimensional niche depiction of the species. This multidimensional approach revealed a new species of the elusive and threatened tiger-cat complex.
The name “tiger cat” comes from “El tigre,” which refers to the Jaguar in Spanish. Thus,“Tigre” is related to Jaguar and not to the Tiger of Asia. This means that the Tiger-cat would be something like the “Jaguar-cat.” “Tigrillo”one of its names in Spanish also means ‘small jaguar’. Everything is related to Jaguar and not to Tiger.
THE TIGER CAT COMPLEX
(de Oliveira et. al, 2024)
A: Leopardus tigrinus - Savanna tiger-cat
B: Leopardus pardinoides - Clouded tiger-cat
C: Leopardus guttulus - Atlantic Forest tiger-cat
FACT SHEET
Body Mass (kg)
Head and body (HB) (mm)
Tail (T) (mm)
L. pardinoides
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L. tigrinus
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2.27 (1.8-3.4)
485 (422-540)
290 (245-340)
2.32 (1.85–3.46)
482 (380–650)
278 (210–345)
L. guttulus
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2.38 (1.7–3.47)
510 (460–591)
272 (212–310)
DISTRIBUITION
REPRODUCTION
MAIN THREATS
Habitat loss and fragmentation;
Diseases from domestic dogs and cats;
Poaching/retaliatory killing;
Road-kills;
Extensive fires;
Pet trade.
BASIC ARCHETYPE
Slightly bulky body, medium-large
bushy tail, proportionally smaller ears
L. guttulus
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Slender long-legged body, long
margay-sized thin tail, proportionally
large ears
Long margay- sized bushy tail, shortround ears, margayish-looking head
L. tigrinus
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L. pardinoides
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Body pattern
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Overall ground color
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Spot patterns: side
Rich reddish/orangish/grayish-yellow
Yellowish, grayish-yellow
Reddish/brownish-yellow tone
Irregularly shaped medium-large
“cloudy” rosettes, strongly marked that
often times coalesce
Small open or small/large solid dot-like
rosettes that may coalesce or tend to coalesce
Large and numerous round rosettes,
very rarely tending to coalesce
HABITAT
Found mostly in critical habitats: cloud forests of the Talamanca-La Amistad Range and the tropical Andes, Atlantic forest, semi-arid Caatinga woodland/shrubland, and savannas.
DIET
AREA REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSERVATION
Maintaining approximately 500 reproducing adult tiger-cats requires areas of typically > 25,000 km2. In very few and restricted areas in < 1% of their range, where their populations are higher, the areas needed would range from 5,000 to 8,000 km2.
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Almost no protected area can be considered large enough to support viable tiger-cat populations for long-term conservation in isolation (Mirador State Park is an exception).
Tiger cats largely depend on conservation strategies implemented outside protected areas.
THE INVISIBLE THREAT:
DISEASES
Lion with canine distemper - Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Domestic dog with canine distemper - Mirador State Park
Diseases in protected areas