#andean mountain cat : ★ wild cats ★

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Species Spotlight #01: Andean Mountain Cat
written by admin Lynx.
photos by Felidae Fund
The Andean Mountain Cat (Leopardus jacobita) is a small and elusive wild cat, believed to only live in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina. They inhabit elevations as high as 5,100 meters, thriving in rocky, steep terrain.

They are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, less than 2,500 individuals are believed to exist in the wild. Currently, few to none are kept in captivity. They are very rarely sighted - the main indication that they have not yet become extinct is their pelts periodically appearing in fur markets. In fact, the little information known about Andean cats has been obtained through pelts, bones, and only a small handful of sightings in the wild.

The main threats to Andean cats are prey reduction, disease, illegal hunting, habitat degradation/loss, and - interestingly - hybridization with the Pampas cat (L. colocolo). They are also noted to have very low genetic variability.
Sub-populations of Andean cat are separated by deep, human-inhabited valleys. No sub-population is believed to consist of any more than 250 individuals, which makes conservation efforts even harder.

However, the IUCN reports that there has been a substantial increase of research efforts as of late. Organizations such as the Andean Cat Alliance and Small Cat Conservation Alliance are actively engaged in Andean cat conservation.