There are just a few museum specimens by which to describe this species, and there have been just a
few observations made in the wild. The Andean mountain cat is a small but sturdy cat: one male from Peru
weighed 4 kg. It has long ash-gray fur indistinctly patterned with rusty rosette-like spots on the sides,
and marked with conspicuous thick dark stripes extending down the sides from the back. Prominent dark
gray bars run also across its chest and forelegs. Its nose is black, and its belly pale, with dark spots.
The tail is thick and long (about 70% of head-body length) banded with approximately seven conspicuous
dark rings. The cat also has enhanced auditory abilities
essentially nothing is
known about the biology and behavior of the Andean mountain cat. The most detailed observation of it
in the scientific literature was made at 4,250 m in the north-east of Argentina's Tucuman province (Scrocchi
and Halloy 1986). A single cat was followed on foot for more than two hours during late morning at a
distance of 15 to 50 m, showing no fear of humans. It drank from melting ice, and moved to sit upon a
prominent rock. A gray fox ran from the cat. The cat traveled further and rested in the shadows on
a rocky hillside before it moved out of sight.
The Andean mountain cat seems to prefer
to hunt mountain chinchillas and mountain viscachas. Its diet may or may not include other species
(birds, reptiles, small rodents, etc.). The mountain cat's range appears to coincide with the original
distribution of these large rodent species. Both are "ricochettal" rodents: their strategy to escape
predators involves making unpredictable changes of direction by bounding off rock faces. Like the Andean
mountain cat, the chinchillas and viscachas have enhanced auditory abilities. The long tail of the mountain
cat is probably an aid to balance when chasing these rodents.
Currently, there is no information
available on this species with regard to breeding habits, or longevity, and no animals are known to
exist in captivity.
The Andean mountain cat is apparently very
specialized in its habitat requirements, having been found only in the rocky arid and semi-arid zones
of the high Andes above the timberline (generally above 3-4,000 m in elevation). Vegetation at observation
and collection sites has consisted mainly of small scattered dwarf shrubs and clumps of bunchgrass. The
presence of rock piles and boulders (typical micro-habitat of mountain viscachas, and the only yype of
cover available at such altitudes) may be important.
It is not clear whether
the apparent rarity of the Andean mountain cat is a natural phenomenon, or is attributable to human actions,
or is simply a misperception resulting from lack of observations. Only a detailed study of its ecology
will provide the answer, but in the meantime, speculation will have to suffice.
Lack
of knowledge is obviously a factor. The few observations of the species were all in the daytime, and
details regarding collection or observation, typically made during general mammal surveys, are sparse.
With regard to human action, it appears that two of the usual human-induced causes of rarity -- habitat
loss/modification and direct persecution -- can be ruled out. Although pelts of Andean mountain cats
are occasionally seen in fur markets, there are no records of international trade. it is possible that
the Andean mountain cat is rare because it has evolved to be a specialized predator of chinchillas. Both
mountain chinchillas and mountain viscachas have naturally patchy distributions, living in small colonies.
The colonies are centered around cliffs and boulders, and the animals avoid extensive areas of open ground.
Moreover, the high mountain habitat types are also unevenly distributed in some parts of the Andes,
where the high plateau is dissected by deep valleys which are better watered, more thickly vegetated
and relatively heavily settled -- not characteristic mountain cat habitat.
more specifically,
perhaps the Andean mountain cat evolved to hunt nocturnal chinchillas rather than the larger, diurnal
viscachas While mountain viscachas are declining locally outside of reserves due to subsistence hunting,
the short-tailed chinchilla has been hunted to the brink of extinction. It was intensively exploited
for the European fur trade from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. Formerly ranging through
the high Andes from northern Peru south to the vicinity of Santiago, only a few scattered colonies are
believed to survive in rugged and inaccessible terrain where the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
and Peru meet.
if the Andean mountain cat has indeed specialized to prey on chinchillas, widespread
extinction of colonies must have had disastrous effects. On the other hand, if it is not a specialist
predator, small prey is abundant in the Andean uplands and its rarity must be attributable to other factors.
