Range Description

The guiña, the smallest felid in the Americas, also has the smallest distribution, being found primarily in central and southern Chile and marginally in adjoining areas of Argentina. The guiña is the only small felid to occur over most of its range, although on the eastern limit, in Argentina, it is sympatric with the Geoffroy’s cat (Lucherini et al. 2001). It is also found on the large island of Chiloe off the coast of southern Chile (Sanderson et al. 2002). Its extent of occurrence is estimated at approximately 177,000 km² (J. Schipper pers. comm. 2007), but its area of occupancy is much smaller and fragmented due to loss of its native temperate forest habitat; Acosta-Jamett et al. (2003) estimated that there were 24 separate subpopulations in central Chile.