Pampas cat
Leopardus pajeros (Desmarest, 1816)
Status not recordedmammals
The pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros) is a species in the family Felidae, order Carnivora. Recorded adults weigh about 5.16 kg.
Quick facts about the pampas cat
- Weight
- 5.16 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the pampas cat
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the pampas cat live?
Not recorded
What is the pampas cat?
The Pampas cat (Leopardus colocola) is a small wild cat native to South America. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List as habitat conversion and destruction may cause the population to decline in the future.
It is named after the Pampas, but occurs in grassland, shrubland, and dry forest at elevations up to 5,000 m (16,000 ft).
There was a proposal to divide the Pampas cat into three distinct species, based primarily on differences in pelage colour/pattern and cranial measurements. Accordingly, three species were recognised in the 2005 edition of Mammal Species of the World: the colocolo (L. colocolo), the Pantanal cat (L. braccatus), and the Pampas cat (L. pajeros) with a more restricted definition. This split at species level was not supported by subsequent phylogeographic analysis, although some geographical substructure was recognised, and some authorities continue to recognise the Pampas cat as a single species. In the 2017 revision of felid taxonomy by the Cat Specialist Group, the Pampas cat is recognized as a single species with seven subspecies. An analysis of 142 skins collected across South America revealed morphological differences between these museum specimens. It was therefore proposed to recognize five distinct species within the Pampas cat complex.
From the Wikipedia article “Pampas cat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pampas_cat&oldid=1383004506), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the pampas cat endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the pampas cat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusLeopardus
- SpeciesLeopardus pajeros (Desmarest, 1816)
Synonyms Felis pajeros, Leopardus colocola pajeros, Leopardus colocolo pajeros, Leopardus pajeros pajeros, Lynchailurus pajeros
Other names and names in other languages (20)
- Argentinian Pampas catEnglish
- Southern Pampas catEnglish
- قط البامباس الجنوبيArabic
- Kazh ar pampaBreton
- kočka pampová argentinskáCzech
- Südliche PampaskatzeGerman
- Αγριόγατα της ΑργεντινήςGreek
- Gato pajeroSpanish
- Gato de las pampasSpanish
- Gato de los pajonalesSpanish
- Gato del pajonalSpanish
- Chat des pampasFrench
- foltos pampamacskaHungarian
- Gatto delle pampasItalian
- パンパスネコJapanese
- 팜파스고양이Korean
- Sørlig PampaskattNorwegian Bokmål
- Gato-palheiro-da-PatagôniaPortuguese
- แมวปัมปัสใต้Thai
- Кіт пампасовий південнийUkrainian
Relatives of the pampas cat
Other species in the same genus Leopardus.
Ocelot
Leopardus pardalis
Oncilla
Leopardus tigrinus
Margay
Leopardus wiedii
Kodkod
Leopardus guigna
Geoffroy's cat
Leopardus geoffroyi
Tilcayo
Leopardus tilcayo
ComparePampas cat vs OcelotPampas cat vs OncillaPampas cat vs MargayPampas cat vs Kodkod
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the pampas cat?
An adult pampas cat weighs 5.16 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the pampas cat?
The pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros) belongs to the family Felidae in the order Carnivora.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopardus-pajeros
“Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopardus-pajeros.
@misc{leopardus_pajeros_2026,
title = {Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/leopardus-pajeros},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}