More than fish: diet composition fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
in human-dominated landscape
Abstract
The fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wetland
specialist threatened felid with limited knowledge base on behavior and
ecology. We carried out comprehensive analysis of its diet within a
human-dominated landscape in southern Nepal, analyzing scat samples
through microscopic analysis and DNA metabarcoding. The microscopic
analysis revealed that mammals, primarily rodents, constituted the
largest proportion of fishing cat diet (61.73% frequency of occurrence
(FO)) followed by birds (43.21% FO) fish (24.69% FO) and reptiles
(19.75% FO). However, DNA metabarcoding documented fish as the main
diet (70% FO), followed by mammals (63.33% FO) and birds (30% FO).
Our findings demonstrate that, fish alone is not a major food source of
fishing cats indicate their role to regulate rodents and birds that
damages the farm crops. The trophic niche breadth (0.68) shows the
fishing cats a diet generalist. We recommend launching awareness
programs and programs promoting integrated fish cum paddy farming among
fish farmers within the fishing cat range, benefiting both farmers and
fishing cat populations. Additionally, targeted conservation measures
such as controlling physical and chemical pollution in agricultural and
wetland sites are essential to mitigate threats to fishing cat
populations. Prioritizing wetland health should be a central strategy in
conservation efforts, which will benefit not only fishing cat, but also
many co-distributed species.