WCS 3-Sentence Science

Does the Fishing Cat Still Fish in Myanmar?

June 14, 2019

Credit: WCS Myanmar Program

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present the work by the WCS Myanmar program on the distribution of fishing cats in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta:

1. The distribution of the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) in Myanmar remains poorly known.
2. Researchers present two recent photographic records that confirm the occurrence of the Fishing Cat in the Ayeyarwady Delta of southern Myanmar.
3. The photographic records together with other reports and the availability of suitable wetland habitat suggest that the Ayeyarwady Delta is globally important for fishing cat conservation. However, deforestation driven largely by agriculture is of concern for the future survival of this species in Myanmar.

Study and Journal: “Recent photographic records of Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833) (Carnivora: Felidae) in the Ayeyarwady Delta of Myanmar “ from Journal of Threatened Taxa
WCS Co-Author(s): Naing Lin (Lead), WCS Myanmar Landscape Coordinator; Steven Platt, Associate Conservation Herpetologist, WCS Myanmar Program

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.