Fishing cat (Prionailurusviverrinus) is sparsely distributed in south and south-east Asia. It is medium sized one of the fifteen small cats found in India. This felid is typically wetland dependent, rare, elusive and mostly nocturnal in nature. Fishing cat is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List and listed under Appendix II of CITES due to declining population, habitat loss and fragmentation along with illegal trapping, killing and poisoning. However, Fishing cat is legally protected in India under the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
In India, fishing cat was recorded from coastal areas.In MP, though it’s presence has been reported in Bandhavgarh National Park, no photographic evidences of the claim are available.First photographic evidence of fishing cat in MP has been recorded in Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR). PTR is situated in the Vindhyan hill range, under Biogeographic Province 6A Deccan Peninsula – Central Highlands. The major vegetation type is tropical dry deciduous forest, dominated by Teakand other species include Tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon), Kardhai(Anogeissus pendula),Mohua (Madhuca indica)and Khair(Acacia catechu).
On 11 January 2019, at 4:13 hours, first photographic evidence of fishing cat was captured by camera traps (Fig. 1) set up by PTR for monitoring wild animals near Mahelanseha, beat: Balaiya, MadlaRange, PTR.
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Fig 1: Camera Trap pictures of
Fishing Cat in PTR
