Cats in farms: Ranging behavior of fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) in a human-dominated landscape

Abstract

Home range studies provide valuable insights into animal ecology and behavior, informing conservation efforts and management strategies. Although fishing cat is globally threatened habitat specialist, only a few studies have been conducted on their home ranges and social organization, and how those respond to human influence. In the first study of its kind in Nepal, we tracked 11 fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) with satellite GPS collars to investigate their home range size and habitat use in and around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. Altogether 2,303 locations were obtained from 11 collared cats. The Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Autocorrelation-informed Kernel Density Estimation (AKDE) were used to estimate the fishing cats’ home range sizes. The average home ranges of fishing cats (n = 8) with 95% MCP and 95% AKDE were 29.12 ± SD 16.89 km² and 39.88 ± 26.16 km² respectively. Home range (95% AKDE) of adult females (21.72 km², 5– 44 km²) was significantly smaller compared to the males (58.03 km², 35.99–85.02 km²). Sex-specific social organization with a single male overlapping with multiple non-overlapping adult females was consistent with other carnivore home range behaviors. Habitat selection by fishing cats using Ivlev’s electivity index showed fishing cats’ preference towards undisturbed wetlands. A large part of the fishing cat home range is situated in human-dominated areas such as fish ponds, agriculture, and settlements, but there are various threats to fishing cats including persecution, road kills and guard dogs attacks. To ensure long-term survival of these cats amid habitat alteration and human-wildlife conflict, we recommend fishing cat conservation activities focusing on raising awareness especially in human-dominated landscapes.