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Collaring of Fishing Cats

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    18th Aug, 2020
  • Fishing Cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) are nocturnal (active at night).
  • Apart from fish, it also preys on frogs, crustaceans, snakes, birds, and scavenges on carcasses of larger animals.
  • In India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, on the foothills of the Himalayas along the Ganga and Brahmaputra river valleys and in the Western Ghats.
  • Despite multiple threats, the Fishing Cat was recently down listed to “Vulnerable” from “Endangered” in the IUCN Red List species assessment.
  • Fishing cats are listed under CITES: Appendix II and Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • Shrimp farming is a growing threat to mangrove habitats of the Fishing Cats.
  • Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun) and the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department are has planned for a maiden exercise of collaring 10 fishing cats in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • The sanctuary is located in the Godavari estuary to study the species’ ecology, home range, and behaviour in different seasons, feeding habits, threats, movements and use of space.
  • The project aims to capture the fishing cats and collaring them with light weight equipment containing the Geographical Information System.


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