About the Fishing Cat
The fishing cat is a stocky, semi-aquatic wild cat of India's wetlands, mangroves, and river margins — a medium-sized predator that makes its living catching fish with partially webbed paws and swift underwater dives. India holds one of the world's most important fishing cat populations, primarily in the Terai wetlands of the north, the Bengal delta, and the Himalayan foothills of Assam.
Fishing cats are strongly tied to aquatic habitats — mangroves, marshes, river banks, and flooded grasslands. The Sundarbans delta is their stronghold, but they also occur around Chilika Lake in Odisha and in the wetland corridors of West Bengal. Despite their name, fishing cats eat a broad diet including frogs, water birds, small mammals, and crustaceans. The rapid loss of wetland habitats to agriculture and aquaculture is the primary threat, making the fishing cat one of India's most habitat-specific threatened species.