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Albinism in the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) from the Haor Basin of Bangladesh
Article · January 2013
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Anthony J. Giordano Mohammed Feeroz Texas Tech University Jahangirnagar University
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Wildlife Warden, Rajasthan, and the Director Conservation Project: Occasional Report #5: Howard J.G. 2010. Prionailurus viverrinus. In: and Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Con- IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Spe- for providing the necessary facilities for granting servation Biology. Thailand. cies. Version 2011.2.
ANTHONY J. GIORDANO1,2, A.H.M. ALI REZA3,4 AND MOHAMMED MOSTAFA FEEROZ4 our visit, staff managing this captive wild- life collection claimed that other individu- Albinism in fishing cats from als had been observed more recently from 37 the same general region, which suggests the Haor Basin of Bangladesh anecdotally at least that this trait is still represented in the gene pool. The fishing cat Prionailurus viverrinus is a small to medium-sized felid that ranges Considering its time in captivity and its across southern Asia from Pakistan east to Vietnam and south to the island of Java. adult status at the time of capture, this al- To date very little is known about the ecology and natural history of this species. bino male was at least 12 years old at the Here we document an adult albino fishing cat believed to have been captured in the time we observed it. To our knowledge, the Hail Haor region of Sylhet Division, Bangladesh and propose that albinism may be Haor region of Sylhet is the only region well established among fishing cats in the Haor Basin. We are unaware of any other from which albino fishing cats have been aberrant pelage patterns that have been documented in fishing cats. documented. Albinism has been documen- ted in several other felid species (Robinson The fishing cat is a robust, small to me- we documented the occurrence of an albino 1970a, 1976; Nowell & Jackson 1996), par- dium-sized felid inhabiting wetland and male fishing cat (Fig. 1) in a captive wild- ticularly in captivity. However, it appears to riparian areas across southern and sou- life collection in the town of Srimangal. The occur infrequently in wild felid populations. theast Asia. Typical pelage for the species cat, a male held in captivity for approxima- Other somewhat familiar pelage variants consists of brownish-grey to olive-grey fur tely 10 years (captured in August 2001), in felids include both leucism (Robinson marked with nearly parallel lines of black, was captured as an adult at Hail Haor 1969, McBride & Giordano 2010) and me- broken elongated spots on the back and si- (24°22’N/91°40’E), a large wetland that lanism (Robinson 1970b, Wibisono & Mc- des (Sterndale 1884). Spots vary in shape is currently the focus of our research. The Carthy 2010, Bashir et al. 2011, Giordano from rounded to elongate (Francis 2008); second author examined and photographed et al. 2012), of which the latter variant has the tail is banded or ringed, and white fur the same individual in 2001 a few weeks recently been the subject of increasing ge- is present around the mouth and muzzle. after its capture. netic and field research (Eizirik et al. 2003, The ears are black and have a conspicuous Khan (2005) reported four albino fishing cats Haag et al. 2010, Kawanishi et al. 2010). central white spot on the dorsal surface like (3 kittens, 1 adult) caught on three occasions Although we are not aware of the existence its congeneric, the leopard cat Prionailurus within an 18-month period from this same of other fishing cat pelage variants, mela- bengalensis (Roberts 2005). Currently, the region (2000-2001) suggesting that albinism nism does occur in leopard cats from the fishing cat’s ecology and distribution largely may be somewhat established in this popu- Sundarbans (Kumar Das et al. 2012). remain unknown. lation. The fate of the three other kittens As a final thought, it would be of notable In December 2009 while conducting surveys that Khan (2005) referred to is unclear, as scientific interest if albinism does indeed for fishing cats in northeastern Bangladesh, no further information is available. During persist in any wild population of felids. Al-
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Kumar Das S., Kumar Sakar P., Saha R., Vyas P., Danda A. A. & Vattakavan J. 2012. First pho- tographic capture of melanistic leopard cat in Sundarbans. Cat News 57, 30-31. McBride R. T. & Giordano A. J. 2010. First record of a white ocelot (Leopardus pardalis). The Southwestern Naturalist 55, 567-568. Nowell K. & Jackson P. 1996. Wild Cats, Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/ SSC Cat Specialist Group, Gland, Switzer- land. 382 pp. Roberts T. J. 2005. Field guide to the large and medium-sized mammals of Pakistan. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. 259pp. Robinson R. 1969. The white tigers of Rewa and gene homology in the Felidae. Genetica 40, 198-200. Robinson R. 1970a. Homologous mutants in mammalian coat colour variation. Sympo- sium of the Zoological Society London 26, Fig. 1. Albino fishing cat captured in the vicinity of Hail Haor region of Sylhet, Bangla- 251-269. desh (Photo Ali Reza & Anthony J. Giordano). Robinson R. 1970b. Inheritance of the black form of the leopard (Panthera pardus). Genetica binism likely has selective disadvantages Bensch S., Hansson B., Hasselquist B., & Nielsen 41, 190-197. for predator and prey of numerous taxa, B. 2000. Partial albinism in a semi-isolated Robinson R. 1976. Homologous genetic variation such as causing individuals to be highly population of great reed-warblers. Hereditas in the Felidae. Genetica 46, 1-31. conspicuous, and/or being associated with 133, 167-170. Sterndale R. A. 1884. Natural History of the 38 additional phenotypic anomalies. Such DeWoody J. A. 2005. Molecular Approaches to Mammalia of India and Ceylon. Thacker, characteristics have the potential to lead the study of parentage, relatedness, and fit- Spink, and Co., Calcutta, India. 571 pp. to or further be associated with overall re- ness: practical applications for wild animals. Wibisono H. T. & McCarthy J. 2010. Melanistic duced fitness (DeWoody 2005) and may be Journal of Wildlife Management 69, 1400- marbled cat from Bukit Barisan Selatan Na- more likely to occur in small inbred popula- 1418. tional Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. Cat News tions (Bensch et al. 2000). However, few Eizirik E., Yuhki N., Johnson W. E., Menotti- 52, 9-10. studies have sought to assess these cha- Raymond M., Hannah S. S. & O’Brien S. J. racteristics in the field. It is possible that 2003. Molecular genetics and evolution of 1 S.P.E.C.I.E.S., LifeScape International, New should albinism persist even infrequently in melanism in the cat family. Current Biology York, NY, U.S.A. the Hail Haor fishing cat population, selec- 13, 448-453. *
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