Fisher (animal)
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| Martes pennanti (Erxleben, 1777) |
The fisher is a North American marten, a medium-sized mustelid. The fisher is agile in trees and has a slender body that allows it to pursue prey into hollow trees or burrows in the ground. Despite its name, this animal seldom eats fish; the name may originate from the French word fichet, which referred to the pelt of a European polecat. In some regions the fisher is known as a pekan, derived from its name in the Abenaki language. In parts of New England it is often called a fisher cat.
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[edit] Description
Adults weigh between 2 to 7 kilograms (4–15 lb) and are between 65 to 125 centimetres (26–49 in) in length. Males are about twice the size of females, with the smallest females having been recorded being as small as 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), hardly larger than most other martens, and males at as much as 9 kilograms (20 lb), by far the largest size recorded for the genus. Their coats are darkish brown, with a black tail and legs; some individuals have a cream-colored patch on the chest. All four feet have five toes with retractable claws. Because they can rotate their hind paws 180 degrees, they can grasp limbs and climb down trees head first.[citation needed]
A circular patch of hair on the central pad of their hind paws marks plantar glands that give off a distinctive odor, which is believed to be used for communication during reproduction. Fishers are also known for one of their calls, which is often said to sound like a child screaming, and can be mistaken for someone in dire need of help.[citation needed]
They mate during the spring and raise their offspring until early summer.[citation needed]
[edit] Hunting and diet
Fishers are solitary hunters. Their primary prey include hares, rabbits, squirrels, mice, shrews, porcupines and sometimes domesticated animals. Their diet may also contain small birds, and deer. Fishers are also known to eat ground-nesting fowl such as grouse and turkey, as the eggs and young of these birds often make easy targets. When animal prey is unavailable, the animal may eat nuts and berries.
In some areas fishers can become pests to farmers because they will get into a pen and kill large numbers of chickens. Fishers have also been known to eat feral cats and dogs and small pets left outdoors.[2][3] However, a study done in 1979 examined the stomach contents of all fishers trapped in the state of New Hampshire; cat hairs were found in only one of over 1,000 stomachs.[4] Attacks on domestic cats may be documented, but zoologists suggest a bobcat, coyote, or dog is more likely to prey upon domestic cats and chickens.
[edit] Reproduction
Female fishers first breed at one year of age. The fisher breeding season spans from late February through late April. There is a ten-month delay after breeding before implantation of the blastocyst phase of the embryo occurs, resulting in a one-year gestation period. Litters are produced annually. The young are born in dens high up in hollow trees.
Kits nurse for about four months and begin to eat meat before they are weaned. The kits' cries resemble that of a kitten.
[edit] Distribution
Being arboreal, fishers are most often found in coniferous or mixed forests with high, continuous canopy cover. They avoid open spaces. Fishers are solitary, only associating with other fishers for mating purposes. Recent studies, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that the highly adaptable fishers have begun making inroads into suburban backyards, farmland, and even semi-urban areas in Michigan and Pennsylvania[5].
The fisher is found from the Sierra Nevada in California to the Appalachians in West Virginia and north to New England, as well as in southern Alaska and across most of Canada. Fishers are present in low density in the Rocky Mountains, where most populations are the result of reintroductions.
They have spread from Vermont into southern New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and have recently been artificially reintroduced into dozens of areas across the United States, including in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. They appear poised to retake parts of their range from which they were previously extirpated, like Connecticut and New Jersey. The fisher has been seen in Alaska since the 1990s.
On 27 January 2008 fishers were reintroduced into the Olympic National Park in Washington State. Fishers, native to Washington, have not been known to exist anywhere in the state for generations because of overtrapping in the 1800s and early 1900s and the loss of old-growth forests[6].
[edit] Conservation status
During the past two centuries fisher populations have occasionally declined due to trapping and habitat loss. Their soft brown pelts can fetch high prices. Fishers are shy, secretive, and difficult to breed in zoos. However, on March 23, 2008 three fisher kittens were born at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota.[7]
In New England fishers, along with most other furbearers, were nearly exterminated due to unregulated trapping since the mid-1800s. Also, much of the forest habitat preferred by the fisher was put to agricultural use. Some measure of protection was afforded in the early 1900s, but it was not until 1934 that total protection was finally given to the few remaining fishers.
The fisher was again abundant enough in 1962 to warrant an open trapping season. During the early 1970s the value of fisher pelts soared, leading to another population crash in 1976. After a couple of years of closed seasons fisher trapping re-opened in 1979 with a shortened season and restricted bag limits. The population has steadily increased since then, with trappers taking about a thousand fishers per year in the late 1990s, despite a much lower pelt value.
Fishers were reintroduced into several states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and West Virginia after being nearly wiped out by trapping and habitat destruction in much of North America, sometimes in an effort to control porcupine populations.
Several baby fishers were born on May 23, 2009 in a remote section of Olympic National Park in Washington State, a region that had lost all known fishers by the early 1900s due to trapping. Reintroduction of the species started in January 2008.[8]
[edit] Gallery
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[edit] References
- ^ Reid, F. & Helgen, K. (2008). Martes pennanti. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2008. Retrieved on 21 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
- ^ On the wild side: Once nearly extinct, weasel-like fishers thrive in the suburbs, where their ravenous feeding habits threaten family pets. Keith O'Brian, Boston Globe, 25 August 2005
- ^ A Cat Fight? Sort of, Only Louder and Uglier Kareem Fahim, New York Times, 4 July 2007
- ^ The Fisher: New Hampshire's Rodney Dangerfield
- ^ A Fierce Predator Makes a Home in the Suburbs Katie Zezima, New York Times, 10 June 2008]
- ^ Weasel-like fisher back in state after many decades Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times, 28 January 2008
- ^ "Minnesota Zoo visitors get chance to see fisher kittens". Star Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/local/17811644.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-11.
- ^ Nelson. "Baby Fishers". KUOW.ORG 94.6 FM. http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=17652. Retrieved on 2009-06-02.
[edit] Further reading
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
- Zezima, Katie (2008-06-10). "A Fierce Predator Makes a Home in the Suburbs". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/science/10fish.html?ref=science. Retrieved on 2008-06-10.
- Powell, Roger A. (November 1993). The Fisher: Life History, Ecology, and Behavior. Univ of Minnesota Pr. ISBN 9780816622665.
- Terres JK, ed (1958). The Audubon Book of True Nature Stories. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York. ASIN B001UZH90I. LCCN 589716.
[edit] External links
- "Fisher Cat Screech". online community of fisher cat sightings, sounds, and videos.. http://www.fishercatscreech.com.
- Fishers Killing House Cats In Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Animal Diversity Web entry by C. Rhines
- "Living with Fisher in Massachusetts". Mass. Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife & Environmental Law Enforcement. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/living/living_with_fisher.htm.
- Brian Doyle, Fishering from Ecotone
- "How the Fisher differs from the Marten". http://www.predatorconservation.org/predator_info/forest_predators/learn_more/fisherscriptexcerpt.html.
