The Geoffroy cat; this small feline, between 80 and 100cm long, between 2.5 and 8 kg in weight and similar in appearance to a domestic cat, is one of the three possible felines to find in Patagonia. It has a grayish coat dotted with black spots that become more elongated towards the extremities and form rings on the tail. In this species there are cases of melanism, in which the coat is completely black.
It is distributed in the southeast of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, almost all of Argentina and Chile, where it can be found between the Aysén and Magallanes regions, as well as the mountain range of the Araucanía region.
It is a solitary animal, with twilight to nocturnal habits and they feed on small rodents, hares, rabbits and birds. It prefers areas covered with forest and scrub, but it is also possible to spot them in more open areas of rocky ground and low scrub.
Text and photo: @nicolagos_s