Regular and threatened fishing cat

In the wild, there are 15 species related to the CAT family in India. Our big cats, lions and tigers have been given a lot of attention. A lot of small wild cats are not known – karakal, rusty spotted cat, fishing cat, etc.

Wetlands are homes in India Fishing catWhich doubles from the size of the domestic cat, weighs seven to 12 kg, and a brown brown fur with black spots. In its territory, this cat is often the top hunter, which means no other creature hunts on it. Wetlands are lively ecosystems that are characterized by the soil of waterfalls such as floods, mangroves and marshes of the river.

Some unusual adaptations enable the fishing cat to get in a wet environment. Partially web claws, a dense water-resistant coat and the ability to completely submerged in water indicate aquatic tilt. Claws, which cannot be completely withdrawn, help the cat with slippery mud and fishing. The diet of cats is mainly fish, although rodents, chickens and other small animals are always welcome.

The fishing cat spends 50% of its hunting time standing, seated or speaking in a cruching near the edge of the water. Barely 5% of the hunting time is spent in water. In shallow water, the cat slowly moves forward, stopping to take out a fish with its claws before grabbing from the mouth.

The fishing cat population is found in the scattered pocket: the Terrai region of the Himalayas, some swamps of western India, along the east coast, and in Sri Lanka.

Wildlife surveys use the camera mesh set near the water edge to monitor the patches of this elusive nocturnal cat. A detailed calculation has been done by a network of colleagues (see Fishingcat.org) in the Fishing Cat Project Tiaasa Adhya and Chilka Lake, where there is abundance of fish and limited conflict with humans. Extraplation of their results gives us an estimate of about 750 fishing cats in 1,100 sq km. Faded species research54, 1, 2024).

This healthy number is opposite with a rapid decreasing number of cats in Sundarbans. Earlier this year, fishing cats died in Rajasthan until they were seen in Keoladio National Park.

The decline is largely due to loss of habitat. It is estimated that 30–40% of the wetlands of India have been lost in the last four decades or have been severely humiliated. Therefore it is important to protect the wetland ecosystem for the fishing cat. Human encroachment has also severely affected him. Many people see them as predators of fish ponds and chicken coops, and a dangerous number of revenge by humans has been documented. Community-based protection programs hold the key to reducing this enmity.

This year, India’s Wildlife Institute in Dehradun has launched a project to track fishing cats in the places of Godavari river inside the Koringa Wildlife Sanctuary near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. Using GPS collar with GIS integration, the exact location data of the collar cat will be collected. Constant data from the collar will provide insight on preferred housing, movement, and where they face human settlements. These will be useful to design all strategies to promote fishing cat population.

This article was a co-writer with Sushil Chandni.