First Camera Trap Record of Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus Bennett, 1833 (Carnivora: Felidae) from a Rural Wetland of Mid-West Bengal, India

Abstract

Prionailurus viverrinus, a wetland-dependent lesser cat with globally declining population, is suffering from increasing destruction/conversion of wetlands for various anthropogenic use, poaching, retaliatory killing etc. In India, they prefer to thrive in dense emergent vegetation adjoining different wetlands along the east coast and Gangetic plains. However, surveys determining their distribution range were carried out long ago and, due to various threats they have been decimated from many areas where they used to thrive earlier. This demands for a reassessment of their present status across its reported distribution range. Here we report the presence of fishing cats (through camera trap evidence) for the first time from a human-dominated wetland habitat of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India. Out of all camera-trap images in the present study (N = 39), majority are of fishing cats Prionailurus viverrinus (25 pictures, 64.10%) followed by golden jackal Canis aureus (12 pictures, 30.76%), and jungle cat Felis chaus (two pictures, 5.12%). None of these wild fauna were recorded during day time. Fishing cats and golden jackals were mostly recorded between 21:01–3:00 h and 18:00–21:00 h respectively. Two images of jungle cats were also captured, one each during 21:01–00:00 h and 00:01–3:00 h. Similar studies in other wetlands within the distributional range of fishing cats will collectively validate their present distribution, which might be useful for in-situ conservation of this elusive vulnerable species.