Fishing Cat Facts
- The Fishing Cat is a small to medium sized feline that is natively found throughout a number of countries in south-east Asia. Unlike other cat spesies found around the world (with the notable exception of the Jaguar) the Fishing Cat spends most of its life in areas of dense vegetation close to water and is an excellent swimmer. However, despite its water-loving lifestyle, the Fishing Cat is not particularly specially adapted to its semi-aquatic lifestyle with small teeth that are not well designed for holding onto slippery prey and only slight webbing between the toes on its front paws to help it to negotiate the slippery banks.
- The kingdom of Fishing Cat is Animalia, the phylum is Chordata, the class is Mammalia, the order is Carnivora, the family is Felidae, the genus is Prionailurus, the scientific name of it is Prionailurus viverrinus.
- Fishing cats live foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lake, in swamps and mangroves .The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal.
- The Fishing Cat is a nocturnal and solitary hunter that rests amongst dense vegetation during the day before heading to the water at night to find food. They are incredibly strong and capable swimmers and have been known to swim vast distances often in pursuit of a fish trying to get away.
- The fishing cat is the largest of the Prionailurus cats. Its coarse fur is olive-grey to ashy-grey with darker stripes on the shoulder and roundish or oval-shaped spots on the flanks and sides. The short and rounded ears are set low on the head, and the back of the ears have a white spot. Two stripes are on the cheeks, and four stripes run from above the eyes between the ears to the shoulder. The underside is white, and around the throat are two rows of spots. The tail is short, less than half the length of head and body, spotted at the base and with a few black rings at the end.
- Its preys are fish, shellfish, and snakes. The Fishing Cat scoops the fish out of the water using its paw.
