Fishing Cat

The fishing cat is a sturdy, water-associated small cat with a brown coat patterned by dark spots and facial stripes. Its front toes are partly webbed and the claws remain slightly exposed even when retracted, features that improve grip around slippery prey and wet ground. Unlike many cats, it readily enters water and swims (Smithsonian National Zoo; Animal Diversity Web).

It occupies wetlands such as marshes, swamps, reed beds, tidal creeks and forest beside rivers, with scattered populations across South and Southeast Asia. Fish are characteristic prey, but the species also hunts birds, frogs, other amphibians and crustaceans in and around water. It can also use fish farms and agricultural landscapes (Animal Diversity Web; field study of fishing cats in farmland). It is Nationally Critically Endangered (Thailand Red Data 2025).