Leopardus wiedii

Status: Near Threatened, Hunted until the late 90s and so population was decreased, and even now is still decreasing due to loss of habitat from deforestation in their native habitat of central South America.

Among the folktales and legends of oral tradition that were collected by folklorist Elsie Eusebia Spicer Eels in the early 20th century, was the tale of Domingo‘s Cat.

Domingo was a very poor man, and at one point his circumstances were so reduced that he had to sell all his belongings and had no home or food, but he could not bear to part with his beloved cat.

So the cat ran off into the jungle and dug through the dirt, and in the flying debris, flashes of silver caught the light. He gathered up the silver and brought it home to his master. He then similarly gathered some extra silver and brought it to the king. When asked where it came from, he told the king it was a gift from his master, Domingo. The next days, the cat dug up gold, and then diamonds, and each time brought to the king as a gift from Domingo. The king decided Domingo must be very generous and rich indeed and decided his daughter must marry him.

With his wiliness, the cat acquired a precious wedding suit, and defeated a giant by transforming him into a mouse and eating him, thus gaining a castle estate for Domingo, who married the king‘s daughter and lived happily. And the cat wandered off into the jungle to find some other soul to benefit.