The kodkod (Leopardus guigna), also called güiña, is the smallest felid species native to the Americas.

This disrupts one of the four disulphide bonds in the normal protein, altering its tertiary structure and reducing its ability to bind to the melanocortin 1 receptor.

[7] The genus Leopardus was proposed in 1842 by John Edward Gray, when he described two spotted cat skins from Central America and two from India in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.

[12] Today, the genus Leopardus is widely recognized as valid, with two kodkod subspecies:[13] The kodkod is strongly associated with mixed temperate rainforests of the southern Andean and coastal ranges, particularly the Valdivian and Araucaria forests of Chile, which is characterized by the presence of bamboo in the understory.

During the day, they rest in dense vegetation in ravines, along streams with heavy cover, and in piles of dead gorse.

They are terrestrial predators of birds, lizards and rodents in the ravines and forested areas, feeding on southern lapwing, austral thrush, chucao tapaculo, huet-huet, domestic geese and chicken.

[1] It is threatened foremost by logging, which entails the spread of pine forest plantations and agriculture, particularly in central Chile.