Fishing Cat

About this species

Size

Head and body 57–78cm; tail 20–30cm

Weight

Males 8–17kg, females 5–9kg

Diet

Mainly fish; also birds, rodents, insects, molluscs, reptiles and amphibians

Habitat

Densely vegetated wetlands: marshes, swamps, oxbow lakes, tidal creeks and mangroves

Range

Terai wetlands, the east coast (Sundarbans, Chilika, Godavari and Krishna mangroves) and scattered sites elsewhere

Litter size

Usually 2–3 kittens (1–4)

Gestation

63–70 days (in captivity)

The fishing cat is a stocky, muscular wild cat about twice the size of a house cat, with a broad head, small rounded ears, fairly short legs and a short, thick tail. The coarse fur is yellowish-grey to ash-grey, covered in black spots that run into lines along the back and neck, with two stripes on each cheek and two rows of spots across the throat. Its front paws are partly webbed and its claws never fully retract, both adaptations to catching fish. It is the largest cat in its genus (Wikipedia, general species account).

Across its range the fishing cat lives in thick vegetation beside slow-moving or still water and is mainly active at night. It swims strongly over long distances and underwater, and fish make up most of its diet, with birds, rodents, insects, snails and reptiles taking up the rest. Adults live alone, with females ranging over 4–6 km² and males over 16–22 km², and they scent-mark their ranges. Most kittens are born in March and April (Wikipedia, general species account). Draining and conversion of wetlands is the main threat.

The fishing cat is West Bengal's state animal. In India it lives mainly in the Terai and along the east coast, from the Sundarbans to the Chilika lagoon and the mangroves of Andhra Pradesh. At Chilika in Odisha, about 150 camera traps set for nearly 30 days in 2021 and 2022 gave an estimate of 176 fishing cats (131–237), described as the first population estimate for the species outside a protected area (Chilika Development Authority and The Fishing Cat Project, as reported by Down To Earth 2022).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)