Fishing Cat's Hunting Strategy Underwater Revealed for the First Time

Fishing cats are popular for their hunting skills. Throughout the biodiversity of the planet, these animals are one of the most agile species ever to exist. The common approach of fishing cats is conducted through a quiet approach. They are also fond of targeting victims in depths of water bodies.

Fishing Cat: Prionailurus viverrinus

Commonly found in Asia, the Prionailurus viverrinus hunts animals and fishes for food in marshes and swamps. The peak of their hunts is usually conducted in the dark of the night the fishing cats get most of their meals straight from the moderately deep parts of water. In a new study, the felines were found to change their strategy during hunting for a specific reason. The latest observations from the predator oppose the popular belief that they do the same trick continuously throughout their search for food.

The new study presented the first detailed compilation of how the fishing cats hunt. The paper was authored by The University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology expert Tiasa Adhya. The scientist was also one of the founders of The fishing Cat Project, which was established back in 2010. The goal of this initiative is to conduct research on the fishing cats and preserve the remaining population of the species.

Fishing cats have been part of the global biodiversity for a while now. However, their presence is usually overlooked by the scientific community, leading to the lack of information and biological studies around them. In 2016, an attempt was launched in order to share knowledge about fishing cats with the locals. The project, called Know Thy Neighbor, taught over 20 people located in the prime fishing locations in east India to observe and preserve the animals. Part of the project was to install camera traps in hidden positions on the selected neighborhoods surrounding Asia's largest brackish lagoon Chilika.

How Do Fishing Cats Hunt Their Aquatic Prey?

One of the most observed fishing cats is named Choti, after its short hind leg. Project volunteer Subas Behera said in a Science News report that fishing cats are equipped with a strategy similar to fishermen. Both the felines and fish hunters are comparable in terms of thinking about where is the best spot to catch fish.

Bangalore's National Centre for Biological Sciences wildlife biologist Divyajyoti Ganguly, who co-authored the study, was able to analyze over 190 videos captured by the cameras between 2016 and 2018.

According to their observation, the fishing cats submerge themselves in the deep waters and wait patiently to grab their potential prey. Statistics showed that the felines were stationary 52 percent of the time and aggressively jumped for just 3.9 percent throughout the records. During their hunting time on shallow waters, the fishing cats were found to be more active, scouting around the spot by 96 percent of the time. They also slam their paws occasionally to the water for the fish to come out.

Wild Cat Conservation Foundation's wildlife ecology expert Jim Sanderson, who was not involved in the study, said that the efforts are considered to be among the few comprehensive studies ever conducted for the fishing cat and their semiaquatic activities. Further examinations will be laid out to understand more about the nature of the fishing cats and their feline cousins. The research was published in the journal Mammalia, titled "How fishing cats Prionailurus viverrinus Bennett, 1833 fish: describing a felid's strategy to hunt aquatic prey."

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