Fishing Cat Facts

Fishing Cat Profile

Cats don’t typically like to be wet. There’s no way to look deliberate and refined with sodden fur and the righting reflex doesn’t work well under water. 

But if cartoons have taught us anything about animals it’s that cats like to eat fish (and annoying yellow canaries) more than almost anything.

And in species like the fishing cat, this drive has forced them to swallow their pride and dive right in.

Fishing Cat Facts Overview

Habitat:	Wetlands, rivers, swamps, lakes, mangroves
Location:	South and Southeast Asia
Lifespan:	Median 12 years, late teens in captivity
Size:	Up to 78 cm (31 in) long with a 30 cm (12 in ) tail
Weight:	17 kg (37 lb) in males, 9 kg (20 lb) in females
Colour:	Deep yellowish-grey fur with black lines and spots
Diet:	Fish, then birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, carrion
Predators:	Unknown, likely few to none other than humans.
Top Speed:	Unknown
No. of Species:	1
Conservation Status:	Vulnerable (IUCN)

The fishing cat is a cat very much like its close relative, the Leopard cat. But this one is far more limited in its range, and this is only getting worse.

Sadly, this unusual, aquatic specialist is being reduced by human development and expansion at an alarming rate, and may now need to rely on a special bank of its genetic material to one day recover. 

But this is a fierce and elusive animal and makes an iconic and important addition to the marshlands, wetlands and mangrove habitats we often consider so bare and disposable. 

Interesting Fishing Cat Facts

1. They’re not leopard cats

There are now five recognised species in the Prionailurus genus, all from more or less the same place on the planet, and all small-to-medium cats. Most of them have spots and very round heads with eyes that are suspiciously close together. 

Of them all, the fishing cat is most closely related to the leopard cat and unsurprisingly looks very similar, making them hard to tell apart at first glance. 

But while the leopard cat has a huge range, the fishing cat is greatly restricted in comparison. Interestingly, the leopard cat was once habituated enough to live alongside humans in a domestic setting in China before modern cats stole their niche.

The fishing cat, not so much. Possibly because they’re not as easy to come by. ¹

2. They’re elusive

This is probably unsurprising to hear about a cat species but much of what was known to modern science came from a handful of pelts sent back from the Indian subcontinent and though early researchers can’t be blamed for the lack of cameras, it wasn’t until the ‘80s that one was even caught on camera. 

Back then, camera traps involved some Indiana Jones-esque contraptions with pressure plates and wired triggers, but today the infra-red cameras have only slightly better luck at catching them. 

Still, much of what’s reported about this species comes from inferences from captive populations, and these aren’t always applicable in the wild. 

For example, captive males show parental care for their young, but whether this is a product of the captive restrictions on their range, we still aren’t sure. ²

3. They’re aggressive

These are pretty small cats compared with some of the giants, but females reach around twice the weight of a house cat and males can be almost twice this again. 

And if you’ve seen a local tabby hold its own against a barking dog, it might not be a shock that the fishing cat can be a bit of a force to be reckoned with. Zookeepers have to respect their aggressive nature and wild instincts. ³

4. They’re aquatic specialists

Unlike many feline species, these cats aren’t shy around water. As the name suggests, they hunt for fish from the banks of rivers and marshes and are competent swimmers. 

Their paws are partially webbed, helping not only in the water, but also in traversing the muddy plains and wetlands that often surround it. 

Fishing cat fur is also adapted for this purpose: double-layered, with short and dense insulating fur surrounded by longer guard hairs. This doubles up as great camouflage. 

All of this amounts to a specialist fish hunter, feeding predominantly on fish and crustaceans, but still capable of taking the classic cat prey of birds, rodents and reptiles. Being larger than a house cat, they’re even powerful enough to take on a baby deer. 

5. They’re in trouble

An animal as versatile as this should be thriving in the sprawling aquatic ecosystems of Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, those ecosystems are in serious trouble, and therefore so is the cat. 

Across its entire range, the fishing cat is in decline and reports of its presence are becoming slim. Since at least 2000 the populations in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Java, and Lao, are very small, if they exist there anymore at all. 

And all of this is from an assessment that was conducted in 2016, so the situation may be significantly worse. 

6. Because of human development

It’s easy to forget that land that looks devoid of life is often rich in specialised organisms that can’t live anywhere else.

Swamps may look like flooded lawns but they are infinitely wealthier in biodiversity, so draining them is akin to cutting down a forest for the animals who live there. 

likewise, the messy, muddy river banks that get “cleaned up”, reinforced, and developed upon were once home to animals like the fishing cat, whose reliance on wetlands makes them extremely vulnerable to such practices. 

Habitat destruction is, in large part, to blame for the destruction of the fishing cat, too, but this is compounded by competition for fish, revenge killings, poaching, and other human-related persecution. 

In Thailand, these threats were assessed to be responsible for the majority of an 84% mortality rate. As such, it’s now at high risk of extinction throughout its range. 

7. There is an insurance population

Biobanking sounds like something you’d find a bill for after lending a child an iPad for the afternoon but it’s significantly cooler than that. 

Much like the seed bank in Svalbard that promises to save our asses after the nuclear Winter, zoologists strive to collect and protect genetic material from threatened species all over the world, insuring against their eradication should the wild populations go extinct.

But unlike the frozen seeds, the ideal genetic material for animals is ideally stored at body temperature inside the healthy animal itself. 

But just in case, some people are isolating bits of cat – samples from their ears and testicles – and saving the frozen cell material in an attempt to keep it logged and viable for creepy future resurrection practices. 

It greatly sucks that this is even necessary, but it’s great that it’s a real thing that happens, and for the fishing cat, it might be absolutely critical to the survival of the species. ⁴

Fishing Cat Fact-File Summary

Scientific Classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Prionailurus
Species:	viverrinus

 

1. Jean-Denis Vigne (2016), “Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)”, NIH.
2. “The Fishing Cat”, Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance.
3. “Fishing Cat”, San Diego Wildlife Alliance.
4. Woranop Sukparangsi (2022), “Establishment of fishing cat cell biobanking for sustainable conservation”, NIH.