A waterside cat of South and Southeast Asia, with a stocky body, short tail and dark spots and lines on grey-brown fur.
It has a long head with dark lines from the forehead toward the neck, short limbs and small rounded ears.
Researchers fitted GPS collars to 11 fishing cats in and around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in eastern Nepal between 2021 and 2023. Of 2,303 recorded locations, the largest share (31.5%) was in tall grassland and shrub. Wetlands made up 6.4% of the study area but accounted for 27.4% of recorded locations—about 4.3 times their share of available habitat. This made wetlands the most strongly selected habitat in the study.
The researchers also reported that human-used land, including fishponds, farmland and settlements, made up more than one-third of the collared cats' home-range area. The records show fishing cats using grass cover and human-shaped places while selecting wetlands disproportionately to their availability.
IUCN Red List · Vulnerable (VU) · Global
The IUCN Red List assesses the fishing cat as Vulnerable (VU) globally. It was assessed on 16 May 2024 and published in 2025. The assessment lists a decreasing population trend and cites loss and fragmentation of wetlands and other habitats, pollution, and human-caused mortality including road kills.