Brown fur speckled with black, a striped muzzle, large eyes… On Wednesday, June 25, La Flèche Zoo in Sarthe, western France, announced the birth of two adorable kittens, calling them “rare and precious.” A video shows them huddled together, climbing on a tree trunk and being groomed by their mother. Cats in a zoo? While their appearance could easily be mistaken for the more than 15 million domestic cats in France, these animals actually belong to one of the world’s least known and most unusual feline species. The two male kittens, born on April 26, are fishing cats, also known as viverine cats (Prionailurus viverinus).
Like 12 other species of small wild cats (out of 33), the fishing cat is also threatened with extinction and listed as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. According to the latest assessment, conducted in May 2024, the global population is declining and estimated at between 3,200 and 7,500 cats, found mainly in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Very small populations have also been identified in Cambodia and Thailand.
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