Andean Mountain Cat

Andean Mountain Cat:
Natural History, Distribution and Status

Check out the world's only video footage of this wild cat available thanks to CarnivoreConservation.Org

The Andean mountain cat (Oreailurus jacobita) is a small, little known inhabitant of the arid Andes highlands. CAT sponsored surveys in the four range states: Argentina, Bolivia and Chile and Peru are improving our understanding of the species' geographic range -- and confirming its rarity. The Andean mountain cat has been upgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.

A high priority project supported by Gibson Anderson has just been completed: the first survey of the distribution of the Andean mountain cat in Peru. This addresses a major gap in our understanding of the species:
•Daniel Cossíos Meza and Analí Madrid Rivera. 2003. Final report: •Andean mountain cat (Oreailurus jacobita) and other Andean carnivores status survey in Ayacucho, Arequipa, Puno and Tacna departments, Peru. •Photos from the survey (MS Word document, 700 KB)
•Andean mountain cat (Oreailurus jacobita) and other Andean carnivores status survey in Ayacucho, Puno and Arequipa departments, Peru. Progress report by Daniel Cossíos Meza and Analí Madrid Rivera (MS Word doc). Previous records from Peru are more than 30 years old: read the original descriptions by O.P. Pearson (1957) and I.R. Grimwood (1968) (PDF files).

In Bolivia, CAT-supported researcher Lilian Villalba recently captured the first camera trap photos of the Andean mountain cat.
She and Nuria Bernal presented this poster at the Carnivores 2002 conference in Monterey, California: Geographic distribution of the Andean mountain cat and pampas cat in the Bolivian Andes (PDF file)

COCGA - the Committee for Conservation of the Andean Mountain Cat -
was formed by a group of Latin American researchers to promote further investigation of this rare wild cat.The Aymara people of the high Andes worship small wild cats, which are killed, stuffed and decorated. During festivals people dance with them on their backs, and make spiritual offerings. Does this traditional cultural practice threaten this cat's survival? COCGA is putting together an expert survey to consolidate knowledge of the threats to this species.

The Leonard X. Bosack and Bette M. Kruger Foundation and Gibson Anderson have also sponsored the following projects for this species:

•Susan Walker and Andres Novaro. 2001. First report on the multinational initiative to determine the status of the Andean mountain cat and priorities for its conservation . MS Word, Progress report to CAT and COCGA. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. (Figures are separate PDF files). Spanish version.
•Susan Walker and Andres Novaro. 2003. Second report on the multinational initiative to determine the status of the Andean mountain cat and priorities for its conservation. Progress report to CAT. (PDF, 500 KB).

•Distribution and status of the Andean mountain cat in Chile. 1998. A. Iriarte, Chilean Ministry of Agriculture and Wildlife Management.
Spanish version.
English translation by E. Yensen, Auburn College.
• Andean mountain cats in northern Chile. Spring 1999 Cat News article by J. Sanderson.

•Villalba, L and Bernal, N. 1998. Distribution and status of the Andean mountain cat in Bolivia. Final project report to Cat Action Treasury. Spanish original.
English translation by Robert J. Orr.
MAP: Distribution records of the Andean mountain cat and pampas cat in Bolivia. L. Villalba and N. Bernal. 2000.

Part of the difficulty in studying the Andean mountain cat is that the pampas cat (Lynchailurus colocolo), a more common species, is very similar in appearance, and the two can be easily confused. Rosa Garcia-Perea has developed a diagnostic key to distinguish between the two species.
•Andean mountain cat, Oreailurus jacobita: morphological description and comparison with other felines from the Altiplano. Garcia-Perea, R. 2002. (full text PDF file, 2.7 MB, Journal of Mammalogy).
•A morphological key to distinguish Andean mountain cats from pampas cats (genus Lynchailurus). Final report to Cat Action Treasury. R. Garcia-Perea, Madrid National Museum of Natural History. In English. In Spanish. Figs 1& 3-4.
* Drawings of the Andean mountain cat by Maurico Anton.

Other Andean cat reports and links:
* Oreailurus jacobita. E. Yensen and K.L. Seymour. 2000. Mammalian Species 644: 1-6. (PDF file)
* Perovic, P.G., Walker, R.S. and A.J. Novaro. 1999. Estudio preliminar del gato andino (Oreailurus jacobita) en el noreste de Argentina. In Spanish.

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