Pampas Cat Profile
South American felids are unique and exquisite in a way that occurs nowhere else on Earth.
Only Asia comes close to matching the species richness of small forest cats found in the tropical South American jungle, and one species in particular, the Pampas cat, may make up almost half of known species, depending on who you ask.
But the very fact there’s no consensus on their taxonomy is troublesome, and this elusive feline may be in serious trouble if we can’t figure it out.
Pampas Cat Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Mountainous slopes, lowlands, swamps, marshes, grasslands, up to 5km altitude |
| Location: | South America |
| Lifespan: | Unknown, possibly 24 to 28 years, based on others in the genus |
| Size: | Around 75 cm (30 in) long |
| Weight: | Around 7 kg (15.4 lb) |
| Colour: | Grey to yellow-brown, with reddish stripes |
| Diet: | Likely small mammals and birds |
| Predators: | Unknown, humans; possibly jaguars, ocelots, caiman. |
| Top Speed: | Unknown |
| No. of Species: | 5 |
| Conservation Status: | Near Threatened (L. coloco, IUCN) |
Pampas cats are some of the least understood of all the felids.
They’re so good at hiding that despite being found over much of the continent, and in almost all terrestrial habitat types, we still don’t even know if they’re on species of seven, or anything in between.
And this is a serious problem because that kind of information is critical to their survival; something which is becoming less assured as their habitats are rapidly disappearing.
Interesting Pampas Cat Facts
1. They’re a bunch of cats
Pampas cats are members of the Leopardus genus. That much is probably certain, but everything else is up for grabs.
Leopardus contains such iconic forest felines as the ocelot and margay, and is the oldest branch of small cats in the Americas, having moved to North America from Asia when the two continents were still connected, and migrated into South America during the Great American Biotic Interchange, as it began to push up against North America.
The taxonomy for the pampas cat is a confusing affair. It was once thought there were five species, then in 2005, there were three species with 11 subspecies, and in 2017 there were three and ten.
There’s now an argument for five species with no subspecies, and we’re going to be grouping these together for convenience since there seems to be no consensus anywhere around what makes a pampas cat and several sources still recognise only one species. 1
2. They’re very widespread
We tend to think of cats as specialists, and in many cases they are. But the pampas cat lives in some of the most diverse conditions of any feline and is perhaps more akin to the leopard in its ability to thrive in almost any habitat.
And this is one of the issues that makes their taxonomy so difficult to explore.
It could be that the species spread into various niches to avoid competition and began to diverge from one another to the point where they’re all now different enough to be considered separate species, or they could just be a highly adaptable cat that lives more or less wherever it likes.
As a group, though, pampas cats are very adaptable. They can be found from sea level to five thousand metres up the mountains, in cloud forests, rocky slopes, lowland swamps, grasslands, and many other habitats. But they’re also spread out across the continent.
They have a wider geographic range than any other South American cat, ranging from Ecuador, through Peru and Bolivia, to Chile down to Argentina and across into Brazil. 2
3. They’re elusive
Despite being found all over the place, the pampas cat does what cats do best, and avoids humans wherever possible. This animal is still a bit of a mystery when it comes to many basic facts, such as what it eats, where it sleeps, or even what time of day it’s awake.
This is causing all sorts of problems for conservationists, who already aren’t sure if they’re all the same species or not.
The issue then becomes, how many are left?
4. They’re probably endangered
Some researchers consider the Pampas cat the most endangered of its kind in the Americas. And this is where the taxonomy matters.
If the population in Brazil, which could number as few as 100, is merely a population, they could be caught, relocated, or bred in captivity with a healthy gene pool found outside of the country.
And the worst-case scenario of this population going extinct would still leave a bunch of cats from the same species to protect.
But if they are indeed a different species, their extinction would be the end of the line, and this means that at least some species are heavily threatened with extinction. 3
5. Habitat loss is the problem
As with a multitude of species in South America and the rest of the world, the widespread destruction of their habitats by agriculture and human development is the major factor in their decline.
By far the leading culprit is animal agriculture, and South America is losing 2.6 million hectares of forest a year as a result of increasing meat and animal feed production.
Even the mountain habitats aren’t safe, as grazing herds of livestock degrade the land and mining operations render it uninhabitable. Road kills contribute significantly to a population this small, too.
Finally, where there are chicken farms, locals kill cats preventatively or in revenge for hunting their livestock, and this is also a serious concern in the smaller villages.
So, conservationists have a lot on their plate but this animal is so hard to study, we have to look at its relatives to make educated guesses about it.
6. We have to infer from other species
Most of what we think this cat is up to comes from estimates based on similar species like the ocelot of Geoffrey’s cat.
Some research suggests they’re diurnal, and other research contradicts this, which suggests that they may be facultatively nocturnal.
This basically means they prefer to be about in the daytime but when the forest gets plagued with researchers and other busybodies they sleep in and wait for them to go to bed before coming out at night to be in peace.
Based on ocelots, the males may have longer ranges than the females, and likely are threatened by feral dogs but they may also be eaten by ocelots and jaguars if they’re unlucky.
If it survives predation, the natural lifespan of this animal remains unknown but could be anywhere from 15 to 30, based on other members of the genus.
Hopefully, more of the mysteries of the Pampas cat will be solved and can be used to aid in protection efforts before it’s lost to extinction. 4
Pampas Cat Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Leopardus |
| Species: | L. colocola, L. braccatus, L. garleppi, L. munoai and L. pajeros |
Fact Sources & References
- Fabio Oliveira (2021), “Taxonomic revision of the pampas cat Leopardus colocola complex (Carnivora: Felidae)”, Research Gate.
- “Pampas Cat”, IUCN Red List.
- Sarah Brown (2024), “In Brazil, conservationists try to save one of the world’s most endangered cats”, Mongabay.
- “Peruvian Desert Cat Project”, International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada.