Fishing Cats by Sebastian Kennerknecht

 

Fishing Cats by Sebastian Kennerknecht One of the rarest cats in South and Southeast Asia, the unique fishing cat lives in the wetlands within and surrounding Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park in Thailand. These felines are specialized in hunting slippery prey like fish and frogs, with their partially webbed feet and non-retractable claws. As both traditional and industrial shrimp farms are encroaching on the habitat surrounding the national park, the question becomes if the cats can live within these modified landscapes. Researchers from the conservation organization Panthera are finding out by fitting fishing cats with satellite collars. - SK

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During a fishing cat collaring, all hands are on deck. These situations always highlight the extreme care the biologists have for their study animal. Everyone speaks in a whisper, is as efficient at taking measurements as possible, and cares about the well being of the cat more than anything else. This work provides much needed insight into how the fishing cats use the landscape, and how shrimp and fish farms affect these cats.

The biologists temporarily collar the cats to collect data on their home range size, how they use their habitat that is fragmented by the shrimp farms and fish ponds and what are the threats to their survival.  On the right Panthera biologist, Laurel Serieys teaching local team members about tracking cats.

Fishing cats live along the edges of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park in Thailand. This landscape is a mosaic of native wetland habitat, and shrimp or fish farms. The water ways, with lots of cover, allow the cats to hide, while hunting for their prey of fish, frogs, rodents and birds.

With high profits in industrial shrimp farms, understandably, comes the desire for more riches. Industrial shrimp farms are sprouting up everywhere around the Park. This only reduces fishing cat habitat even more.

Traditional shrimp farms are natural ponds that provide cover along their borders as well as in the water, and plenty of prey for fishing cats. They also don't use harmful chemicals. This is all in strong contrast to industrial shrimp farms. Most importantly to the majority of farmers they can make about six times the profit as a traditionally farmed shrimp.

This fishing cat shows us that coexistence with shrimp farmers is possible. He was using their hut as a scent-marking station and the farmers didn't mind. You as an individual can help ensure their coexistence with your money (especially in Thailand) if you choose to buy traditionally farmed shrimp (rather than industrially farmed shrimp). The fishing cat will continue to survive and thrive in the areas around Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park if the traditional shrimp farms are maintained and not taken over by industrial shrimp farming.

Ecotourism focused on fishing cats (left) and steps to protect local livestock with Panthera-sponsored fencing (right) helps raise education and support in the community about their local wild felines.

These cats face more threats than loss of habitat and hunting territory. Conservationist and park ranger holds confiscated snares for birds that can also trap the cats (left). Cat conservationist teaches park rangers how to set up Panthera's cameras to catch poachers who hunt the cats for food or their pelts. (right)

Big Picture: Polar Bear Emergence

Photography and copy by Suzi Eszterhas

"When you watch polar bear cubs emerge from the den, it's easy to think that their life has just begun.We think of bears sleeping while hibernating, but for about four months the cubs have been busy with their mother in the den. The mother nurses and grooms the cubs as well as maintaining the den, which involves scratching the ceiling and walls with her claws to allow airflow (otherwise, the den would get completely iced over, and no oxygen would be able to get in).When the family emerges from the den the mother will have spent a total of 6-8 months not eating or drinking. The family now faces their greatest challenge: to build up fat stores before the sea ice begins to melt in the summer.But with the sea ice is melting sooner, that's less time for the mothers to hunt -- and to teach her children to do so -- and less time to regain the fat stores they lost while fasting and lactating in the den."Click here for more Polar Bear photos by Suzi Eszterhas

Big Picture: Nesting Season

Springtime is the season for birds to begin building nests in anticipation for the eggs to come.  Nests made of grasses and sticks are typical but have you seen a cormorant using seastars, blue tits collecting horsehair from a barbed wire fence or penguins on nests made completely of stones?  From bald eagles on their nests the size of a queen bed to albatrosses continuing to work on their sand nest while incubating eggs - click on any image to see more birds at work.

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This weeks Big Picture: Slimy Nature

Click here to see more examples of slime in nature...

An emerging fern fiddlehead and an Ecuadorian bromeliad's flower buds are encased in a protective jelly which could serve to discourage the formation of harmful algal or fungal growth.

Parrotfish are not only covered in a layer of mucus, as are all fish; they also use glands in their gills to create mucous cocoons every night and sleep encased in the gooey mucus bubbles which help shield them from parasites and predators.

This white slimy discharge around an elephant seal's nostrils in a remarkable substance that makes it possible for the animal to dive up to 3,000 feet in search of food. 'Pulmonary surfactant' lines the lungs and makes the transition between high-pressure lower depths to the surface possible.

The hedgehog churns up a slippery, foul-smelling froth from its own saliva that it then uses to coat its body in a process called self-anointing. The theory is that the animals do this to deter predators or to mask its scent.

Slime can be almost everything for slugs and snails including protection, communication, transportation, hydration (the slime coating attracts water). Those slime trails you see act as both glue and lubricants and is exuded from a gland in their foot. The mucus protects against abrasion and germs.

The Violet Snail (Janthina janthina) secretes a bubble-filled raft made of mucus to stay afloat at the sea surface. They live their lives floating upside-down in the ocean and use their mobility to hunt jellyfish.

Big Picture: Keeping Up with Warmer Weather

 

When winter looms some mammals experience a transition from their brown summer coats to whiter fur to blend easily with the expected snowcover.  What happens when climate change causes weather to warm earlier than expected and the snow to which they've adapted disappears? These animals will lose their camouflage which protects them from predators. A recent study on white-tailed jack rabbits suggests that diversity among the three genes responsible for coat color change within different populations may allow rapid adaptation.  As Ferreira et al note, these species are "predicted to adapt rapidly, providing a trait-based genetic framework to facilitate evolutionary rescue." While this is good news for the jack rabbits, how adaptive are other species who rely upon camouflaged fur for their survival?  Take a look at this gallery of animals in their dramatic summer and winter coats.

9565 Soquel Drive,  Suite 202    Aptos,  CA  95003  USA p: 831.661.5551  f: 831.661.5497   info@mindenpictures.com

Big Picture: Oregon Views - photos by Tim Fitzharris

Photographer Tim Fitzharris captures peaceful landscapes in the Pacific Northwest in this new selection of images. Towering sea stacks along the coastline, sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt in Smith Rock State Park, and a rosy sunset at Harris Beach State Park are examples of the open wilderness found in Oregon. 

Click on any image to see the full selection.

9565 Soquel Drive,  Suite 202    Aptos,  CA  95003  USA p: 831.661.5551  f: 831.661.5497   info@mindenpictures.com