View source for Pampas cat

{{Speciesbox
| image = Leopardus pajeros 20101006.jpg
| image caption = 
| status =NT
| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite IUCN|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15309/97204446
|author1=Lucherini, M.|author2= Eizirik, E.|author3= de Oliveira, T.|author4= Pereira, J. |author5= Williams, R.S.R. |year= 2016|title= Pampas cat: ''Leopardus colocolo''|publisher= The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species |page= e.T15309A97204446|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T15309A97204446.en|accessdate= December 23, 2020}}</ref>
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| taxon = Leopardus pajeros
| authority = 
| range_map = Leopardus_colocolo_range_map.png
|synonyms = *''Leopardus colocola''
*''Leopardus pajeros''
*''Felis colocolo''
|synonyms_ref=<ref name=Wanted />
}}

The '''pampas cat'''<ref name="Wanted">{{cite book|date=May 14, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VCWohlbCuoC&q=%22Felis+colocolo%22&pg=PT17|access-date=December 24, 2020|title=Cats' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities|publisher=Potomac Books|author=Alexandra Powe Allred|isbn = 9781612342931}}</ref> or '''gato de las pampas''' (''Leopardus pajeros'' or ''Leopardus colocolo'') is a small wild cat that lives in the [[Andes]] mountain range.  They live in [[Argentina]], [[Chile]], [[Bolivia]], [[Peru]], [[Uruguay]], [[Brazil]], [[Ecuador]], and [[Colombia]].<ref name=Con />  Some scientists think this cat is really three species, ''L. colocolo'', ''[[Leopardus braccatus|L. braccatus]]'', and ''L. pajeros''. Other scientists think they are all one species.<ref name=Phylo>{{cite journal|journal=Genetics and Molecular Biology|title=Phylogeographic analyses of the pampas cat (Leopardus colocola; Carnivora, Felidae) reveal a complex demographic history|author1=Anelisie da Silva Santos|author2= Tatiane Campos Trigo|author3= Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira|author4= Leandro Silveira|author5=Eduardo Eizirik|volume=41 |issue=(1 Suppl 1)|pages=273–287|doi=10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2017-0079|pmid=29668017|year=2018|pmc=5913729}}</ref>

This cat lives in many kinds of [[habitat]]s: [[cloud forest]]s, swamps, scrublands, and grasslands.<ref name=Con />

This cat mostly eats small [[rodent]]s such as guinea pigs and mice, but they also catch birds, for example [[flamingo]]es.  Scientists saw pampas cats going to penguin nests to eat eggs and baby penguins.  Farmers say that this cat can kill goats and chickens.<ref name=Con />

In most of the countries where the pampas cat lives, it is illegal to kill one.  The pampas cat is in danger of dying out because humans are using or want to use the land that it lives on for farms.   [[Indigenous people]] of the South America like the pampas cat because it is a sign of [[fertility]] and they believe killing a pampas cat brings bad luck.  But the same people also like to have a dead pampas cat's skin or whole body for ceremonies.<ref name=Con />

This cat's body is 42 to 79 cm long and its tail is another 22 to 33 cm long.  It can weigh 3 to 4 kg.  Its fur is thick and long.  It can be pale yellow to dark gray-brown or dark dull red in color.  It can have stripes or spots or not.  It almost always has rings on its legs and tail.
<ref name=Con>{{cite web|url=https://wildcatconservation.org/wild-cats/south-america/pampas-cat/|access-date=December 23, 2020|title=Pampas Cat|date=21 December 2012|publisher=International Society for Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada }}</ref>

The first visual recordings of the pampas cat, a movie and photos, were made in 2006.<ref name=Mangroves>{{cite journal|title=Leopardus pajeros (Desmarest, 1816) (Carnivora: Felidae) in Northern Peru: First record for the department of Piura, at the Mangroves San Pedro de Vice, and geographic extention. (Abstract)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270508690|year=2013|author1=Alvaro Garcia-Olaechea|author2=César Lautaro Chávez-Villavicencio|author3=Jorge Novoa|journal=Check List|volume= 9|issue=6|pages=1596–1599|doi=10.15560/9.6.1596|doi-access=free |access-date=December 23, 2020}}</ref>

==References==
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{{commons|Leopardus colocolo}}

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[[Category:Felines]]
[[Category:Mammals of South America]]