The Andean Cat is also known as the Andean Mountain Cat. It's habitat and appearance make it the small cat analogue of the snow leopard. While it is only about the size of a domestic cat, it appears larger because of its long tail and silvery-gray, striped and spotted long fur. It is one of the least known and rarest of all felines; almost all that is known about it comes from a few observations in the wild and from skins. There are none in captivity. It is believed to live only in the high Andes mountains of Peru, Chile, and Argentina. They have been sighted at elevations of 5100 meters, well above the tree line.
The only proof that the Andean Mountain Cat still exists comes from the occasional appearance of new skins. Since they live only in the high mountains, human_inhabited valleys act as barriers, fragmenting the population, meaning that even low levels of poaching could be devastating.
The mountaincat is to be found in the high regions of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, ranging from the dry scrublands lower down the mountains up to beyond the tree line at around 16,000 feet.
In common with other cats that hunt at high altitude the fur of the mountaincat is longer than most - the base colour of the fur varies from grey/brown to a darker reddish/grey and is covered large dark red irregular spots, the tail is long and banded with similar dark reddish/brown markings.
The mountaincat is slightly larger than a big domestic cat, growing up to 24 inches in length with a tail of some 70% of its body length.
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