4 ms·

It's Leopardus tilcayo aka 'tilcayo tiger cat' and it's very cute. Wikipedia doesn't have a page dedicated to it yet. Bonus pics: https://www.newscientist.com/

It's Leopardus tilcayo aka 'tilcayo tiger cat' and it's very cute. Wikipedia doesn't have a page dedicated to it yet. Bonus pics: https://www.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SEI_312819149.jpg https://www.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SEI_... https://media.zenfs.com/en/live_science_953/73a4cafd69e9e86312a459e0206a1469.png https://media.zenfs.com/en/live_science_953/73a4cafd69e9e863... https://media.zenfs.com/en/live_science_953/1fea354ba7a8db696e3bc8750e32dca0.jpg https://media.zenfs.com/en/live_science_953/1fea354ba7a8db69... https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/get/maximage/20260917_1789662761-615.jpeg?1789662761 https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/get/maximage/20260917_17896627...

cromka 8d ago
Looks like a house cat, I am betting it's a matter of months before someone starts selling the crossbreds, like they do with Bengal. Also, they're only 3-4 lbs!
- ghaff 8d ago
  All the wildcats (which basically include domestic cats) are very closely related based on my understanding. Even the whole box thing is related to a lot of wildcats having a liking for caves.
  - jjtheblunt 8d ago
    even as a kid we all liked little forts and boxes etc, which is itself interesting. snow caves were awesome; makes me wonder if it's a primeval instinct somehow.
  - WalterBright 7d ago
    All of a cat's senses and weapons face forward. It makes purfect sense to have its back protected from an attack from behind.
- BeetleB 8d ago
  Let's see if it (or crossbreeds) can be tamed. This particular one was actually being kept in a house because someone confused it for a "pretty housecat". After a while, the owner realized it didn't want to be tamed and contacted someone for help. Also, it's the only known one in existence. Hard to start a breeding program unless they find more.
  - mlmonkey 8d ago
    > Let's see if it (or crossbreeds) can be tamed. Clearly you are not a cat person ... the question is not if it can be tamed, but how quickly it can tame the humans around it ... ;-)
  - shevy-java 8d ago
    I mean, taming animals is trivial. Look at the lion whisperer. People before that thought that lions are always wild. Some animals are just harder to tame and remain ferocious more than others. But behaviour of animals is adaptable and most animals learn.
    - reaperducer 8d ago
      I mean, taming animals is trivial. FTFA: "The man took the animal home, believing it to be a domestic breed. But after about a year of living with the clearly wild animal, he realized it would be better off at a sanctuary."
      - shagie 7d ago
        There's a YouTube (and other) channel out there about a guy and his (I use the possessive with caveats) coyote (named Weave). His motto is "Anything can be a pet if you don’t mind getting bit."
    - quickthrowman 8d ago
      I think the lady that got mauled to death in 2018 at the lion preserve that guy works at might disagree with you if she hadn’t been y’know, mauled to death by a lion. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/28/africa/woman-killed-lion-sanctuary-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/28/africa/woman-killed-lion-...
- dotancohen 7d ago
  I believe that tri-colour house cats are all female. This is a tri-colour male.
  - shagie 7d ago
    Spots are different. The trim-color house cats refers to all calicos... calicos are white spotted tortoiseshell cats. The "is orange or black" is a X linked gene, so you can have XoXb... and then the x chromosome inactivation kicks in and some groups of cells are activated orange and some are activated black. But (not white) spots and variations of color get into things like the Agouti gene ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agouti_coloration_genetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agouti_coloration_genetics ). A tabby cat (black and tan, or orange and darker orange) has no sex linked characteristics. For a deep dive into the genetics of Agouti and how that influences cat fur colors, http://messybeast.com/genetics-agouti-and-corin.htm http://messybeast.com/genetics-agouti-and-corin.htm
    - dotancohen 7d ago
      I very much appreciate the correction, thank you.
    - skipkey 7d ago
      Female orange tabby cats are less common than males though, for much the same reason. They have to get the orange genes from both parents otherwise they are just calico.
      - shagie 7d ago
        The same is true of black cats, the other way around. There are fewer orange (or black) female cats because female cats have another option of coloring - tortoise shell (no spots) or calico (with spots). Another way of phrasing it, half of the male cats are orange, the other half are black - female cats have a third option. Side bit - the wiki page for X chromosome inactivation shows a picture of a tortoise shell cat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm And white spots gets into interesting questions of embryonic cell differentiation http://messybeast.com/bicolours.htm http://messybeast.com/bicolours.htm The "why are there large splotches of color with a calico cat compared to the much more mottled color pattern of a tortoise shell cat?" http://messybeast.com/genetics-index.htm http://messybeast.com/genetics-index.htm has a deep rabbit hole to go down (and that's for domestic cats... http://messybeast.com/wildcats-index.htm http://messybeast.com/wildcats-index.htm for the other cats).
- Induane 7d ago
  Similar looking to the KodKod
- lstodd 7d ago
  3 lb housecat can shred your face so fast that your arms would be late arriving. do not underestimate cats.
  - rootusrootus 7d ago
    Many years ago I met someone who had trained his two housecats to guard the house (I am not sure what that entails). He also had two great big dogs similarly trained. For my safety he would not let any of the animals near me when I visited, but he said the cats scared him more than the dogs did.
    - naishoya 7d ago
      One might argue that a guard dog may be inherently easier to bribe with a treat, or cower with bluster. A trained attack cat is a far scarier proposition, given the speed, sharpness, and number of 'utility knives' they have at the ready. Also, the dog is likely to bluster and warn you. The cat, not so much. Just go for your face. In my youth I witnessed a smallish adult puma (mountain lion) successfully harvest a nearly adult cow elk while I was hiding. I was also hunting, but focused on a bull elk somewhat further from me. It was astonishing the speed and total quantity of violence that an 80-100lb cat delivered in only a few seconds on nearly 500lbs of prey. The cat had an alomost perfect attack angle, and the combination of slash, grip, puncture, and throttle toppled the cow elk, and it ran out of resistance in very short order. I had not even seen the puma before the attack started, and I expect a trained attack housecat would practically appear out of nowhere - from behind a couch or a curtain or off the top of a refrigerator, and it would become an 'I need stitches' situation too easily. Its probably a good thing that most housecats are pretty much impossible to train beyond 'use a litterbox' and 'stay off the kitchen counters', if even that.
      - nunez 7d ago
        Cats all succumb to Churu lickables. They go nuts over the stuff!
      - ChoGGi 7d ago
- FpUser 7d ago
  I have Bengal cat. Absolute love
- Perenti 7d ago
  I don't think they'll hybridise - Leopardus has 36 Chromosomes, while all other cats have 38.
  - cromka 7d ago
    Oh wow, that is certainly something I missed in this story
xoxxala 8d ago
> Wikipedia doesn't have a page dedicated to it yet. Someone has been typing quickly... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilcayo_tiger_cat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilcayo_tiger_cat
- ooboe 7d ago
  "Also found in Whoppers From burger king" Still needs some work!
glerk 7d ago
Oh wow, they are really beautiful. I can tell they are perfect killing machines behind the cuteness.
- sscaryterry 7d ago
  Murder mittens.
- etatester 7d ago
  I'd love to rub my nose on their belly. I don't care about my ears anyway
userbinator 7d ago
It's a sign of the times that I'd probably think "AI-generated" if I saw those images without any surrounding context. (Maybe a few years ago, I might've thought "great Photoshop job" instead...)
sevenzero 7d ago
>...and it's very cute Great, so people will find a way to have it as their pet in horrible living conditions.
petesergeant 7d ago
Only a matter of time at this point until someone breeds a domestic model

cromka 8d ago

Looks like a house cat, I am betting it's a matter of months before someone starts selling the crossbreds, like they do with Bengal. Also, they're only 3-4 lbs!

ghaff 8d ago
All the wildcats (which basically include domestic cats) are very closely related based on my understanding. Even the whole box thing is related to a lot of wildcats having a liking for caves.
- jjtheblunt 8d ago
  even as a kid we all liked little forts and boxes etc, which is itself interesting. snow caves were awesome; makes me wonder if it's a primeval instinct somehow.
- WalterBright 7d ago
  All of a cat's senses and weapons face forward. It makes purfect sense to have its back protected from an attack from behind.
BeetleB 8d ago
Let's see if it (or crossbreeds) can be tamed. This particular one was actually being kept in a house because someone confused it for a "pretty housecat". After a while, the owner realized it didn't want to be tamed and contacted someone for help. Also, it's the only known one in existence. Hard to start a breeding program unless they find more.
- mlmonkey 8d ago
  > Let's see if it (or crossbreeds) can be tamed. Clearly you are not a cat person ... the question is not if it can be tamed, but how quickly it can tame the humans around it ... ;-)
- shevy-java 8d ago
  I mean, taming animals is trivial. Look at the lion whisperer. People before that thought that lions are always wild. Some animals are just harder to tame and remain ferocious more than others. But behaviour of animals is adaptable and most animals learn.
  - reaperducer 8d ago
    I mean, taming animals is trivial. FTFA: "The man took the animal home, believing it to be a domestic breed. But after about a year of living with the clearly wild animal, he realized it would be better off at a sanctuary."
    - shagie 7d ago
      There's a YouTube (and other) channel out there about a guy and his (I use the possessive with caveats) coyote (named Weave). His motto is "Anything can be a pet if you don’t mind getting bit."
  - quickthrowman 8d ago
    I think the lady that got mauled to death in 2018 at the lion preserve that guy works at might disagree with you if she hadn’t been y’know, mauled to death by a lion. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/28/africa/woman-killed-lion-sanctuary-intl/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/28/africa/woman-killed-lion-...
dotancohen 7d ago
I believe that tri-colour house cats are all female. This is a tri-colour male.
- shagie 7d ago
  Spots are different. The trim-color house cats refers to all calicos... calicos are white spotted tortoiseshell cats. The "is orange or black" is a X linked gene, so you can have XoXb... and then the x chromosome inactivation kicks in and some groups of cells are activated orange and some are activated black. But (not white) spots and variations of color get into things like the Agouti gene ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agouti_coloration_genetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agouti_coloration_genetics ). A tabby cat (black and tan, or orange and darker orange) has no sex linked characteristics. For a deep dive into the genetics of Agouti and how that influences cat fur colors, http://messybeast.com/genetics-agouti-and-corin.htm http://messybeast.com/genetics-agouti-and-corin.htm
  - dotancohen 7d ago
    I very much appreciate the correction, thank you.
  - skipkey 7d ago
    Female orange tabby cats are less common than males though, for much the same reason. They have to get the orange genes from both parents otherwise they are just calico.
    - shagie 7d ago
      The same is true of black cats, the other way around. There are fewer orange (or black) female cats because female cats have another option of coloring - tortoise shell (no spots) or calico (with spots). Another way of phrasing it, half of the male cats are orange, the other half are black - female cats have a third option. Side bit - the wiki page for X chromosome inactivation shows a picture of a tortoise shell cat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-inactivation http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm http://messybeast.com/tricolours.htm And white spots gets into interesting questions of embryonic cell differentiation http://messybeast.com/bicolours.htm http://messybeast.com/bicolours.htm The "why are there large splotches of color with a calico cat compared to the much more mottled color pattern of a tortoise shell cat?" http://messybeast.com/genetics-index.htm http://messybeast.com/genetics-index.htm has a deep rabbit hole to go down (and that's for domestic cats... http://messybeast.com/wildcats-index.htm http://messybeast.com/wildcats-index.htm for the other cats).
Induane 7d ago
Similar looking to the KodKod
lstodd 7d ago
3 lb housecat can shred your face so fast that your arms would be late arriving. do not underestimate cats.
- rootusrootus 7d ago
  Many years ago I met someone who had trained his two housecats to guard the house (I am not sure what that entails). He also had two great big dogs similarly trained. For my safety he would not let any of the animals near me when I visited, but he said the cats scared him more than the dogs did.
  - naishoya 7d ago
    One might argue that a guard dog may be inherently easier to bribe with a treat, or cower with bluster. A trained attack cat is a far scarier proposition, given the speed, sharpness, and number of 'utility knives' they have at the ready. Also, the dog is likely to bluster and warn you. The cat, not so much. Just go for your face. In my youth I witnessed a smallish adult puma (mountain lion) successfully harvest a nearly adult cow elk while I was hiding. I was also hunting, but focused on a bull elk somewhat further from me. It was astonishing the speed and total quantity of violence that an 80-100lb cat delivered in only a few seconds on nearly 500lbs of prey. The cat had an alomost perfect attack angle, and the combination of slash, grip, puncture, and throttle toppled the cow elk, and it ran out of resistance in very short order. I had not even seen the puma before the attack started, and I expect a trained attack housecat would practically appear out of nowhere - from behind a couch or a curtain or off the top of a refrigerator, and it would become an 'I need stitches' situation too easily. Its probably a good thing that most housecats are pretty much impossible to train beyond 'use a litterbox' and 'stay off the kitchen counters', if even that.
    - nunez 7d ago
      Cats all succumb to Churu lickables. They go nuts over the stuff!
    - ChoGGi 7d ago
FpUser 7d ago
I have Bengal cat. Absolute love
Perenti 7d ago
I don't think they'll hybridise - Leopardus has 36 Chromosomes, while all other cats have 38.
- cromka 7d ago
  Oh wow, that is certainly something I missed in this story

xoxxala 8d ago

> Wikipedia doesn't have a page dedicated to it yet. Someone has been typing quickly... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilcayo_tiger_cat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilcayo_tiger_cat

ooboe 7d ago
"Also found in Whoppers From burger king" Still needs some work!

glerk 7d ago

Oh wow, they are really beautiful. I can tell they are perfect killing machines behind the cuteness.

sscaryterry 7d ago
Murder mittens.
etatester 7d ago
I'd love to rub my nose on their belly. I don't care about my ears anyway

userbinator 7d ago

It's a sign of the times that I'd probably think "AI-generated" if I saw those images without any surrounding context. (Maybe a few years ago, I might've thought "great Photoshop job" instead...)

sevenzero 7d ago

>...and it's very cute Great, so people will find a way to have it as their pet in horrible living conditions.

petesergeant 7d ago

Only a matter of time at this point until someone breeds a domestic model