Research overview: Andean cat reliance on mountain vizcachas

The Andean cat appears to be a specialist predator of mountain vizcachas, colonial rodents of rocky high-Andean slopes, and this overview reviews the evidence and its implications. Diet studies and the close association of cat records with vizcacha colonies suggest strong dependence on this single prey, paralleling the prey specialization seen in the Iberian lynx. Such reliance ties the Andean cat distribution and density to vizcacha populations and makes it vulnerable to anything that reduces them, including hunting and habitat change. The sympatric Pampas cat, a generalist, shares the habitat but uses prey more broadly. Understanding this prey specialization is central to Andean cat conservation, since protecting vizcacha colonies may be as important as protecting the cat itself.