The Fisher Cat
Some time ago I saw the neighbor’s cat hunting near the treeline. When it moved, I was puzzled. In spite of its color, the brownish black fur, the small round head with the small ears, the bushy tail and the long slender body, it was not a cat. The first give away was the posture. When cats hunt, their body is very concentrated and their long legs are ready to pounce. The little guy I saw had small legs and it was total action. It took me some time to find out its proper identification: A Fisher Cat.
Fisher Cats are not cats nor are they really fishers. They belong to the weasel family, kind of a bigger relative. They live in the forests of Canada and across the northern United States. They have long thin bodies and a fur coat that a century ago was so highly valued that they were hunted to near extinction in some parts of the U.S. Fisher's fur was almost like mink, especially from the females. They were put on the endangered species list. It also helped that fur lately has fallen out of style in general, and Fishers have been taken off the endangered species list and are coming back.
Regarding the name Fisher Cat, it is assumed that early European settlers misidentified the Fishers as a polecat. The Dutch call a small weasel “Fitch”, but nobody knows really. As the Dutch were among the earliest European settlers in New York, there are many confusing artifacts in the local language that sprung from Dutch. I remember an early visitor from Germany, who came to see our property. We gave him a tour of the local area, which included the world famous Beaverkill and Otterkill trout streams. He sniffed disapprovingly that he couldn’t understand the American fascination with killing things, and why they had to memorialize features on the land with animals they had killed! Of course he was wrong. I explained that ‘kill’, in this context, was derived from the Dutch word for stream, and was instead named for the various animals the early frontiersmen observed on the land.
This Fisher was caught on our trail camera taking a freezer-burned piece of venison we left in the woods. With a name like ‘Fisher’ you have to assume that they eat a lot of fish. They eat a lot of things, but fish is not at the top of the list. They enjoy dining on red and gray squirrels, rabbits, fruit, reptiles, birds and bird eggs, and other small mammals, and chipmunks. They’ve even been known to kill the much larger predator - the lynx! This has been observed when a lynx has been bedded down during a snowstorm, and is found by the ever active Fisher as it hunts during the storm. The Fisher will latch onto the back of the lynx’s neck with a vice like grip and hang on until the end. The Fisher is also among the few animals which can kill a porcupine. It attacks the porcupine’s face and bites it, and thus gets spared from those piercing quills.
Fishers are about three feet long with a 15 inch long tail. Males weigh around 12 lbs. And females 8 lbs. They are expert climbers with five toes on each foot with unsheathed retractable claws. Their feet are large, making it easier to walk on snow packs. They have mobile ankle joints giving them added traction on slippery surfaces. They can rotate their hind paws almost 180 degrees, allowing them to climb down head first.
They seek shelter in hollow trees, crevices found in rocks and other dens. They make use of scents to mark their territory, which can be more than a square mile. Their hunting range however is 3 square miles.
Fishers mate in early spring. The gestation period is between ten and eleven months. The female can have one to six kits. Fishers build a nest in a hollow tree and the female looks after the young after birth for five months. Then she encouraged them to move out and search for their own territory.
Although Fishers are not considered an endangered species anymore, they are under threat from loss of forest habitat due to logging and road building. Forest fires destroy the older cavity bearing trees they need for denning.
Fishers mate in early spring. The gestation period is between ten and eleven months. The female can have one to six kits. Fishers build a nest in a hollow tree and the female looks after the young after birth for five months. Then she encouraged them to move out and search for their own territory.
Although Fishers are not considered an endangered species anymore, they are under threat from loss of forest habitat due to logging and road building. Forest fires destroy the older cavity bearing trees they need for denning.
Fishers are not ideal animals to be kept in captivity. You cannot spot them even in zoos. They are nocturnal, solitary and shy, and they tend to hide from humans. There are however instances of fishers paying a visit to chicken coops and preying on small pets.
Nevertheless, I am excited that we have a new animal on our property and hope to see them once in a while.
Nevertheless, I am excited that we have a new animal on our property and hope to see them once in a while.
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