About Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary:
- It is part of the Godavari estuary, where the Coringa river confluences into the Bay of Bengal in the Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh.
- About 40% of the sanctuary is only sea-backwaters and the rest of the area is intermingled with creeks and gets inundated with tidal waters.
- Vegetation: It has extensive mangrove and dry deciduous tropical forests. It is the second-largest stretch of mangrove forests in India.
- Flora: Mangrove plants like Rhizophora spp, Avicennia spp, Sonnertia spp, etc; grow here.
- Fauna: It is home to endangered mammals like Smooth Indian otter, Fishing cat, Jackal, etc. And also home to birds like Black capped kingfisher, Brahminy kite, Sea gulls, Reef heron, Sand piper, etc.
- The sea coast of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary is a breeding ground for Olive ridley turtles.
Key facts about Fishing Cat
- It is a medium-sized wild cat.
- It is a solitary and nocturnal hunters that rest during the day amongst dense vegetation and then at night head to the water to find food. They are very strong swimmers.
- Female Fishing Cats are noticeably smaller than males.
- Habitat: They live primarily in wetland areas, swamps, and marshy areas around oxbow lakes, reed beds, tidal creeks, and mangrove forests.
- Distribution:
- In India, fishing cats are mainly found in the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, on the foothills of the Himalayas along the Ganga and Brahmaputra river valleys and in the Western Ghats.
- They are mainly found in Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka and parts of Pakistan, in western India to southern China, Java, and Sumatra.
- Conservation status
- IUCN: Vulnerable
- CITES: Appendix II
- Wildlife Protection Act 1972:Schedule I.
