The kod-kod is a small wild cat of forests in central and southern Chile and southwestern Argentina. It climbs well and is mostly solitary.
Its tawny coat has rounded dark spots, its face has dark lines, and its thick tail is ringed.
On 21 May 2024, a camera trap photographed a kodkod at Huentelauquén in Chile’s Coquimbo Region. The record came from native forest on the southern bank of the Choapa River, near farmland and about 300 m from the Las Salinas de Huentelauquén Ramsar site. It was a new record for this coastal locality.
The animal belonged to L. g. tigrillo, the subspecies found in central and north-central Chile. The record extended the known northern range by about 43 km. Kodkods occur in Chile and Argentina and are the smallest wild cats in the Americas. The previously known northernmost population was genetically distinct and isolated from other groups. In northern Chile, it also inhabits hard-leaved forests and Mediterranean scrubland.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Habitat loss, fragmentation, and direct persecution are identified as threats to the species. This record came from native forest near a Ramsar wetland, providing a conservation-relevant sign of kodkod occurrence within the coastal landscape.