Fishing Cat and Eurasian Otter

In News:

• Researchers conducting a study in Odisha’s Chilika Lake have found the presence of a viable, breeding population of a fishing cat in the brackish water lagoon.
• The presence of a smooth-coated otter and a Eurasian otter has also been recorded in the lake.

Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)

• Habitat: In India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, on the foothills of the Himalayas along the Ganga and Brahmaputra river valleys and in the Western Ghats.
• The fishing cats are found in very few places in the south and south-east Asia.
• It is broadly but discontinuously distributed in Asia and is primarily found in the Terai region of the Himalayan foothills in India and Nepal, in eastern India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix II
• Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

Smooth-Coated Otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)

• Habitat: Smooth-coated otters are distributed throughout India from the Himalayas to the south.
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• CITES: Appendix II
• Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II

Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra)

• Habitat: Throughout Europe and Asia from Ireland in the west as far as eastern Russia and China. They are also found in north Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) and the Middle East (Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Iran).
• IUCN Red List: Near Threatened
• CITES: Appendix I
• Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II

Q. Consider the following statements regarding fishing cats:

1.They are found in south and south-east Asia only.

2.It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question