IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Sanderson, J.G. | |
| How the fishing cat came to occur in Sumatra | |
| 2009 Cat News (50): 6-9 | |
There is widespread belief that the fishing cat occurs in Sumatra. I examined camera trap photographs, museum records, and conducted an extensive literature search to determine if the fishing cat _Prionailurus viverrinus_ in fact occurs in Sumatra. All four camera trap photographs of fishing cats were determined to be leopard cats _P. bengalensis_. Not one of four well-known museums housing collections of fishing cats contained specimens from Sumatra. Literature searches revealed that before 1940 Sumatra was never included within the geographic range of the fishing cat. From 1940 to the present an increasing number of authors included Sumatra as having fishing cats. There is no physical evidence that the fishing cat occurs in Sumatra and therefore Sumatra should not be considered as part of the geographic range of the fishing cat. This is bad news for the endangered fishing cat, and places increasing importance on the presence of the fishing cat in Java that was last recorded in 1932. |
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