A Rare Wetland Sentinel Finds a Stronghold in Kaziranga
For long, the massive Kaziranga National Park in Assam has lived in the public imagination as the realm of the great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros, orSwamp deer moving through elephant grass, and of Tigers that melt into the floodplain mist. Yet, hidden in the reed beds and shallow beels of this celebrated landscape, another predator has quietly been thriving quitely the elusive Fishing Cat.
The Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), one of India’s most elusive and remarkable wild felines, continues to survive as a fragile symbol of the nation’s vanishing wetlands. Unlike other cats, this medium-sized predator is uniquely adapted to life around water, with partially webbed feet, a stocky muscular build, and an extraordinary ability to swim and hunt fish, frogs, and crustaceans in marshes and floodplains. Yet, despite its remarkable adaptability, the species remains under severe threat across India.
Classified as Fishing Cat Vulnerable on the global conservation scale, the Fishing Cat’s greatest enemy is not nature, but the relentless destruction of wetlands. Across India, marshes, mangroves, oxbow lakes, reed beds, and floodplain grasslands are steadily disappearing under urban expansion, agriculture, pollution, and infrastructure development. Important populations are known from the Sundarbans, Chilika Lake, Coringa mangroves, Bhitarkanika, the Terai belt, and now significantly, Assam’s Kaziranga National Park.
A recent scientific assessment published in February 2026 has brought encouraging news from Kaziranga. For the first time, a structured study based on camera-trap evidence from the tiger estimation exercise has firmly established Kaziranga as a major freshwater stronghold for this Cat species. The survey documented at least 57 unique Fishing Cats across more than 450 square kilometres, spread widely across the reserve’s wetlands and grasslands. The findings strongly suggest not just presence, but a healthy, breeding and reproducing population.
This is immensely significant. Kaziranga has long been celebrated for its Rhinos, Elephants, Wild Buffalos and tigers, but this report now reveals that its floodplain ecosystem consisting of marshes, reed-choked wetlands, and annually renewed grasslands shaped by the Brahmaputra, is equally vital for smaller, lesser-seen predators. The presence of the Fishing Cat in such numbers is a powerful ecological indicator. It signals that the wetlands here are still alive, productive, and functioning despite the so called mans greed for unruly developmental activities.
In many ways, the Fishing Cat is more than a species as it is a considered as a sentinel of India’s wetland health. Because Kaziranga’swetlands and jungles have been sternly protected, the latest report offers a rare note of hope for the fishing cat also as their habitats remain intact, wildlife still finds a way to endure despite human ingress.
Here is an interview I had with the cat expert Ms.Tiasa Adhya, Co-founder of The Fishing Cat Project and consultant with Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance.
1. How robust is the Fishing Cat population in Kaziranga today, and do we have reliable estimates of its numbers?
The number of Fishing Cat with unique markings that we got from Kaziranga is 57. Since there were less recaptures of the same individuals, we could not proceed for a robust density estimation. Hence, we are saying 57 is the minimum number of Fishing Cats present within the protected area. The rule of thumb is that 50 in a population indicates a viable population. We also found kittens that were not counted but which indicate healthy reproduction rates.
2. Are the annual floods of the Brahmaputra beneficial or disruptive to Fishing Cat ecology in Kaziranga’s wetlands?
From a habitat perspective, the floods would be beneficial since they are reset mechanisms for the floodplain habitat. Without good floods, the marshy grasslands would be invaded by trees like Bombax, invasive weeds etc and over time the grasslands would be lost. Moreover, good floods wash out invasive species like the water hyacinth which tend to clog up waterbodies that has detrimental effect on fish populations the cat depends on. On the other hand, we have no data to gauge what Fishing Cats do when floods arrive. Do they migrate upland and since there is a highway there, do some get hit by cars? Do they rather take refuge in small islands of forests on higher mounds that exist in a mosaic with the grasslands and even climb up trees to take refuge? Being a cat, the second one could be plausible. Moreover, we know from Sundarbans and Bhitarkanika, both mangrove forests flooded by tides twice a day and especially during the monsoon and even more during new moons and full moons, that the cat does climb up trees. If so, floods might not be a bane at all for the Fishing Cat. Rather, at the level of the population, they are probably being blessed by good floods which regenerate grasslands and restock natural fisheries.
3. Can the Fishing Cat realistically serve as an indicator of wetland health in Kaziranga’s floodplain ecosystem?
They really can. This is because marshy reeds or alluvial grasslands form their primary habitat. They are known to not only stay inside this habitat but also give birth and are probably the only cat known to create nests by flattening reeds! Moreover, fish is their primary prey as fish provides lean and fatless protein with minimum handling time, i.e., the cats probably get high quality nutrition from fishes while spending minimum time in dressing their prey. Imagine hunting a bird and spending time in pulling out its feathers and dressing the body – that would take more energy than say sitting beside water to pounce into water and hunt fishes. Off course, water might also cause loss of body heat – which is why they spend a lot of water in waiting and watching, jumping into water only when they are sure they can catch a fish. Anyway, the point is if there is a good population of Fishing Cats in a floodplain habitat (I do not exactly mean higher density), it means there is dense wetland vegetation there and it also means there is an abundance of primary prey. Both wetlands and natural fisheries do need healthy rivers that would produce floods, which in turn, are lifelines for wetlands and recharge natural fisheries. In the absence of floods, wetland vegetation would dry out and fisheries would thin out.
4. What are the biggest obstacles in studying and monitoring Fishing Cats in the wild?
Adequate Funds and keen interest, I would say. Secondarily, it is their elusive nature. But that is true for all wild cats.
5. How dependent are Fishing Cats on wetlands outside protected areas around Kaziranga and in Assam?
I actually do not know but I would hypothesize that there are large stretches of available habitat outside protected areas in Assam that Fishing Cat can exist in because of the relatively less modified condition of the Brahmaputra floodplain. This has also been predicted in quantitative models that were built to identify areas in the world which are highly likely to hold Fishing Cat populations.
6. Is conflict with fish farmers emerging as a serious conservation threat to Fishing Cats in India?
In areas where natural floodplains have been modified and commonly used wetland spaces have been converted so that there is a scarcity of natural fisheries but availability of fish farms that are privately owned, conflict with fishermen is a reality. In such spaces which have high human density as well as highly fragmented wetland areas persisting amidst semi-urbanised localities, conflict is very serious resulting in active killing and poisoning of the Fishing Cat. This is a fact across the world. However, fishermen as a clan are not at odds with the Fishing Cat. An example of this is the situation of the Fishing Cat in Chilika. Chilika belongs to all and is owned by none. Here, the Fishing Cats taking fish from the lagoon does not automatically become a loss for the fishermen. In fact, one does not even care.
7. Across India, which landscapes today hold the most secure populations of the Fishing Cat and which are most at risk?
I cannot think of a single landscape where we can confidently say Fishing Cats are secure. This is because our landscapes are going through conversion at a scale never witnessed before.Well-meaning schemes to promote aquaculture is costing Fishing Cat habitat. What we do not know is that Fishing Cat habitat, i.e., marshes and swamps, also store atmospheric gases and elements which, once the wetlands are dug open, escape and increase global warming. These also store excess water during floods and recharge groundwater. However, to the development narrative, these wetlands generate zero revenue, i.e., they are wasteful for revenue. Here is where wetlands are being axed. In the 90s, they were axed for agriculture, now they are being slaughtered for shrimp farming, fish farming and for infrastructural development. However, within this, hope lies in the Sundarbans – the biggest uninhabitable chunk of mangrove forest in the world. This is a place where development projects cannot run their juggernaut. The population in the Yamuna’s floodplains as well as in Godavari-Krishna floodplains is, I would say, at risk, simply because these lie at the tip ends of the core distribution areas in India.
All Fishing Cats and Rusty Spotted Cat Photos CopyRight and by special arrangements from Neville Buck and Partha Dey and Raghu Ananth.
Text by
– N Shiva Kumar
