IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Marino, J.; Lucherini, M.; Villalba, M.L.; Bennett, M.; Cossios, D.; Iriarte, A.; Perovic, P.G.; Sillero-Zubiri, C. | |
| Highland cats: ecology and conservation of the rare and elusive Andean cat | |
| 2010 Book Chapter | |
The 4-4.5 kg Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) is arguably one of the rarer and certainly among the least known of the small cats. In this case study we evaluate the extent to which the Andean cat's rarity is actual or a perception, whether natural or due to anthropogenic factors, and what important conclusions arise for its conservation. The species' rarity is primarily evident from the paucity of published and unpublished records. The Andean cat was first described in 1865 from a skin collected near the Bolivia-Argentina border. Until recently, information was limited to three skulls and 14 skins in museums. Originally classified as Felis, the Andean cat was moved into a new genus Oreailurus on the basis of skull morphology. The molecular phylogeny derived from these few specimens gives support to the proposal that Andean cats, together with the Pampas cat (L. colocolo) and several small- to medium-sized South American felids, belong to the ocelot lineage (L. pardalis). |
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