Hi guys,
I’m currently on Chiloe searching for a Kodkod. We found an interesting cat, but after our initial enthousiasm we think it’s probably not a Kodkod. However still a strange cat, it has spots on the side, was very skittish and seemingly without hesitation swam a little. I would appreciate any comments.
Lennart Verheuvel
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Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. I've also lived and worked in London, Canberra, Paris and Lusaka, and visited over 100 countries. There's more here.
How about a domestic cat? I do not think that the Colo Colo (Pampas Cat) is found on Chiloe, but it is worth checking the distribution. The structure is off for a Kodkod.
Sorry, looks like a domestic cat to me too. Bright white facial coloration and pelage are way off for a Kodkod. I don’t think any other wild cat sp. are native to Chiloe.
It’s a domestic cat. The body structure of a Kodkod is very different.
Thanks guys, my thougts as well. We’ll keep searching!
As a consolation, if you saw it in Europe, everybody would agree it was a wildcat 😉
Or, much more probable, an hybrid, like the “wildcats” that you saw a few years ago in Vesuvio NP (Italy). 😉
No pure wildcats live in that heavily populated place (in S Italy only Abruzzo has still some pure individuals).
Haha, well this may sound a bit unbelievable right now but today I actually saw a Kodkod! We hiked in Parque Tepuheico this afternoon and walked the path. When we turned back around three o’clock we suddenly noticed cat footprints and scat on the road. We knew it must have been fresh because it had rained the day before and that made the prints stand out however we didn’t know if we might have missed it when we walked up. In any case, while we were walking and we still about 2 kilometers from the bridge suddenly a cat crossed the path in three quick leaps! It was at a distance of about 20 meters, I saw a small stocky cat with a rather short tail, even in speed moving very close to the ground (legs were barely visible). Ears were not visible and the head was not clearly set apart from the body. Fur colour was brown and patterned (colour like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leopardus_guigna.jpeg) but it went too fast to see any more than that. However all things put together, also taking into accordance that a domestic cat in the park would have been extremely unlikely considering how far away from any civilized place it is and that a large river separates it from the main land, I’m sure it was a Kodkod! Really crazy sighting, especially during the day! We have not had any luck in spotlighting, but we’ll keep searching!
We visited Chiloe Island in 2017. We were fortunate to see and photograph a Kodkod at Hotel Tephuhueico. You can read more about our experience on the island at:
https://mrfaucher.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-many-surprises-of-chiloe.html