Itty-Bitty Kitty

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Itty-Bitty Kitty

Today’s special animal friend is the kodkod, Leopardus guigna, the smallest cat species in the Americas. Native to Chile, plus an adjoining bit of Argentina, the kodkod is about 20 inches long, with a tail of 8 to 10 inches, and weighs 4 to 5.5 lbs. They have a brownish, plush coat with dark spots and a ringed tail. “Melanistic” individuals are common, with the markings faintly visible on a black coat. The head is small and the tail short, relative to the body, and their tails are unusually thick, growing wider toward the tip.

The kodkod lives in temperate rainforests at elevations up to 6,000 feet. They are most commonly found in the Valdivian temperate rainforest of southern Chile/Argentina. This ecosystem, which looks a bit like Oregon, features ferns and bamboo in the understory and a canopy mainly of evergreen flowering trees, with some deciduous and conifer specimens. They are mainly terrestrial, but they climb well to hunt or escape. They eat birds, lizards, and rodents of many species, as well as domestic fowl where available.

Male kodkods maintain exclusive territories for hunting and mating. A male’s territory usually exceeds .5 square mile, while females’ territories are around half that size. Thus, a male often has access to more than one female. Their mating habits have not been observed, but female felines typically signal estrous by scent and calls, attracting one or more males who depart after fertilization. Gestation for kodkods is believed to be 72 to 78 days, and one to three kittens are born. Lifespan is estimated at around 11 years.

Kodkods are classed as Vulnerable by IUCN. Threats include habitat loss, declining prey populations, and hunting. Radio-collared individuals have been killed when they invaded domestic chicken coops. Conservationists on Chiloe Island found that local people believed the kodkod was a vampire because they observed its canine teeth markings on dead chickens.

The kodkod is not known by this name in its native habitat. It is typically known by some variant of the species name “guigna” using characters not supported by my keyboard. They have not been successfully kept in captivity.