Fishing Cat
Encyclopedia
The Fishing Cat is a medium-sized wild cat
of South
and Southeast Asia
. In 2008, the IUCN classified the fishing cat as endangered
since they are concentrated primarily in wetland habitats, which are increasingly being settled, degraded and converted. Over the last decade, the fishing cat population throughout much of its Asian range declined severely.
Like its closest relative, the leopard cat
, the fishing cat lives along rivers, stream
s and mangrove
swamp
s. It is well adapted to this habitat, being an eager and skilled swimmer.
The toes on the front feet are partially webbed, and the tips of the claws protrude from their sheaths even when fully retracted. Their feet are less completely webbed than of Leopard cat
s, their claws incompletely sheathed.
The inter-digital webs help them gain better traction in muddy environments and water.
through the Terai
region of the Himalayan foothills in India
and Nepal
, into Bangladesh
, and in Sri Lanka
. There are no confirmed records from Peninsular Malaysia
, and Vietnam
. The island of Java constitutes the eastern limit of their range, but already in the 1990s they were scarce and apparently restricted to tidal
forests with sandy or muddy shores, older mangrove
stands, and abandoned mangrove plantation areas with fishponds.
In March 2003, a single fishing cat was camera trap
ped in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary
, northern Cambodia
. In January 2008, their presence was confirmed in Botum-Sakor National Park
, southwest Cambodia. Populations have also been documented in Thailand
.
But there are no confirmed records from Laos
.
They are strongly associated with wetland, and are typically found in swamps and marshy areas, oxbow lakes, reed beds, tidal creeks and mangrove areas and are more scarce around smaller, fast-moving watercourses. Along watercourses they have been recorded at elevations up to 1525 m (5,003.3 ft) in the Indian Himalayas
, but most records are from lowland areas. Although fishing cats are widely distributed through a variety of habitat types including both evergreen and tropical dry forest, their occurrence tends to be highly localized.
The solitary living fishing cats are thought to be primarily nocturnal. They are very much at home in the water and can swim long distances, even under water. Females have been reported to range over areas of 4 square kilometre, while males range over 16 square kilometre. Adults have been observed to make a "chuckling" sound and likely have other calls similar to those of domestic cats.
As the name implies, fish
is their main prey. A one-year study of scats in India's Keoladeo National Park
found that fish
comprised 76% of the diet, followed by bird
s (27%), insect
s (13%) and small rodent
s (9%). Molluscs, reptile
s and amphibian
s are also taken. They hunt along the edges of watercourses, grabbing prey from the water, and sometimes diving in to catch prey further from the banks.
They mark their territory using cheek-rubbing, head rubbing, chin rubbing, neck rubbing and urine-spraying to leave scent marks. They also sharpen their claws and display flehmen.
for six months. They reach full adult size at around eight and a half months, acquire their adult canine teeth
at eleven months, and are sexually mature at fifteen months. They live for up to ten years in captivity.
s, which are increasingly being settled and converted for agricultural use, and also due to human over-exploitation of local fish stock
s. It is believed to be extirpated in Afghanistan, it may already be gone from Malaysia and China, and it has become rare throughout its remaining distribution range.
and the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums
. All the fishing cats kept in zoos around the world are listed in the International Studbook of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
.
(Prionailurus rubiginosus), another little-known small cat in suburban areas of Sri Lanka. As both animals are nocturnal and elusive, it is usually uncertain which species is referred to by either of these terms in any given usage.
Felidae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
of South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. In 2008, the IUCN classified the fishing cat as endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
since they are concentrated primarily in wetland habitats, which are increasingly being settled, degraded and converted. Over the last decade, the fishing cat population throughout much of its Asian range declined severely.
Like its closest relative, the leopard cat
Leopard Cat
The leopard cat is a small wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range...
, the fishing cat lives along rivers, stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s and mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s. It is well adapted to this habitat, being an eager and skilled swimmer.
Characteristics
The fur of fishing cats is olive-grey with dark spots arranged in horizontal streaks running along the length of the body. The underside is white, and the back of the ears are black with central white spots. There are a pair of dark stripes around the throat, and a number of black rings on the tail. An adult fishing cat is about twice the size of a domestic cat, with a head and body length that typically ranges from 57 to 78 cm (22.4 to 30.7 in), and a 20 to 30 cm (7.9 to 11.8 in) long tail. A few much larger individuals have been reported, of up to 115 cm (45.3 in) in head-body length. Adult fishing cats weigh from 5 to 16 kg (11 to 35.3 lb). They have a stocky, muscular build with medium to short legs, and a short tail of one half to one third the length of the rest of the animal. The face is elongated with a distinctly flat nose and ears set far back on the head.The toes on the front feet are partially webbed, and the tips of the claws protrude from their sheaths even when fully retracted. Their feet are less completely webbed than of Leopard cat
Leopard Cat
The leopard cat is a small wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range...
s, their claws incompletely sheathed.
The inter-digital webs help them gain better traction in muddy environments and water.
Distribution and habitat
The range of fishing cats extends from eastern PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
through the Terai
Terai
The Terai is a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests located south of the outer foothills of the Himalaya, the Siwalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and their tributaries. The Terai belongs to the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion...
region of the Himalayan foothills in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, into Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, and in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. There are no confirmed records from Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...
, and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The island of Java constitutes the eastern limit of their range, but already in the 1990s they were scarce and apparently restricted to tidal
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
forests with sandy or muddy shores, older mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...
stands, and abandoned mangrove plantation areas with fishponds.
In March 2003, a single fishing cat was camera trap
Camera trap
A camera trap is a remotely activated camera that is equipped with a motion sensor or an infrared sensor, or uses a light beam as a trigger. Camera trapping is a method for capturing wild animals on film when researchers are not present, and has been used in ecological research for decades...
ped in Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary
Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary
The Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary is the largest protected area in Cambodia and was set aside to protect the critically endangered, possibly extinct Kouprey. It is located in the northern plains of Cambodia, near the border to Thailand....
, northern Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. In January 2008, their presence was confirmed in Botum-Sakor National Park
Botum-Sakor National Park
Botum Sakor National Park is a national park of Cambodia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, Botum Sakor is a peninsula projecting southwest from the Cardamom Mountains. The National Park comprises 183,408 hectares of designated park land and spans three districts of Koh Kong Province:...
, southwest Cambodia. Populations have also been documented in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
But there are no confirmed records from Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
.
They are strongly associated with wetland, and are typically found in swamps and marshy areas, oxbow lakes, reed beds, tidal creeks and mangrove areas and are more scarce around smaller, fast-moving watercourses. Along watercourses they have been recorded at elevations up to 1525 m (5,003.3 ft) in the Indian Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, but most records are from lowland areas. Although fishing cats are widely distributed through a variety of habitat types including both evergreen and tropical dry forest, their occurrence tends to be highly localized.
Ecology and behavior
As the name implies, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
is their main prey. A one-year study of scats in India's Keoladeo National Park
Keoladeo National Park
The Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India is a famous avifauna sanctuary that plays host to thousands of birds especially during the winter season. Over 230 species of birds are known to have made the...
found that fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
comprised 76% of the diet, followed by bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s (27%), insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s (13%) and small rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s (9%). Molluscs, reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s and amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s are also taken. They hunt along the edges of watercourses, grabbing prey from the water, and sometimes diving in to catch prey further from the banks.
They mark their territory using cheek-rubbing, head rubbing, chin rubbing, neck rubbing and urine-spraying to leave scent marks. They also sharpen their claws and display flehmen.
Reproduction and development
Fishing cats may mate at any time of the year, although most commonly between January and February. The female constructs a den in a secluded area such as a dense thicket of reeds, and gives birth to two to three kittens after a gestation period of 63–70 days. The kittens weigh around 170 g (6 oz) at birth, and are able to actively move around by the age of one month. They begin to play in water and to take solid food at about two months, but are not fully weanedWeaning
Weaning is the process of gradually introducing a mammal infant, either human or animal, to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk...
for six months. They reach full adult size at around eight and a half months, acquire their adult canine teeth
Canine tooth
In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth...
at eleven months, and are sexually mature at fifteen months. They live for up to ten years in captivity.
Threats
Fishing cat are endangered due to their dependence on wetlandWetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s, which are increasingly being settled and converted for agricultural use, and also due to human over-exploitation of local fish stock
Fish stock
Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish, for which intrinsic parameters are the only significant factors in determining population dynamics, while extrinsic factors are considered to be insignificant.-The stock concept:All species have geographic limits to their...
s. It is believed to be extirpated in Afghanistan, it may already be gone from Malaysia and China, and it has become rare throughout its remaining distribution range.
Conservation
Prionailurus viverrinus is included on CITES Appendix II, and protected by national legislation over most of its range. Hunting is prohibited in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Hunting regulations apply in Lao PDR. In Bhutan and Vietnam, the species is not protected outside protected areas.In captivity
Fishing cat captive breeding programmes have been established by the European Association of Zoos and AquariaEuropean Association of Zoos and Aquaria
-External links:*...
and the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...
. All the fishing cats kept in zoos around the world are listed in the International Studbook of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums is the "umbrella" organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental...
.
Local names
In Sri Lanka, the fishing cat is known as Handun Diviya or Kola Diviya, terms that are also used by the local community to refer to the Rusty-spotted CatRusty-spotted Cat
The Rusty-spotted Cat is the cat family's smallest member and found only in India and Sri Lanka. It has been listed as Vulnerable by IUCN in 2002 as the total effective population size is below 10,000 mature individuals, with a declining trend due to habitat loss, and no subpopulation containing...
(Prionailurus rubiginosus), another little-known small cat in suburban areas of Sri Lanka. As both animals are nocturnal and elusive, it is usually uncertain which species is referred to by either of these terms in any given usage.