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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.
[edit] DescriptionAdults weigh between 2 and 7 kg (4-15 lbs) and are between 65 and 125 cm (29-47 inches) in length. Males are about twice the size of females, with the smallest females having been recorded being as small as 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs), hardly larger than most other martens, and males at as much as 9 kg (20 lbs), 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. 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. They mate during the spring and raise their babies until early summer. [edit] Hunting and dietFishers are solitary hunters. Their primary prey include hares, rabbits, squirrels, mice, shrews, porcupines and sometimes domesticated animals. Their diet may also contain small birds, berries and other fruit, as well as deer in the form of carrion. Fishers are also known to eat ground-nesting birds such as grouse and turkeys, as the eggs and young of these birds often make easy targets. 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. In 2005 a Boston Globe article told of fishers attacking cats.[1] A July 4, 2007 article in the New York Times raises the possibility that fishers have turned up in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, causing concern among cat owners. In August 2008 it was discovered that fishers were the culprit in a Kingston, Ontario police investigation after mutilated cat remains were being discovered in various city parks over a two-month period. Zoologists are skeptical, suggesting other animals could be responsible and noting that it would be difficult for fishers to migrate into the area.[2] 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.[3] Attacks on domestic cats may be documented, but zoologists suggest a bobcat, coyote, or dog is more likely to kill domestic cats and chickens. Fishers have also been recorded to prey on both lynxes and bobcats.[4] [edit] ReproductionFemale 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] DistributionBeing 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 northern Rhode Island, and have recently been artificially reintroduced into dozens of areas across the United States, including in Montana, Oregon, and Washington. They appear to be poised to take parts of their range where 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 statusDuring 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[1]. 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. [edit] References
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