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Slapping the surface of water to create ripples that mimic insects landing, fishing cats use their partially webbed paws to grab the fish that come to feed.

But this behaviour may no longer be seen in Java – evidence of the Javan fishing cat hasn’t been recorded for more than two decades.

“Is it the rarest cat in the world? It quite possibly could be, if it’s still alive,” says Anthony Giordano, a conservation biologist and leader of the elusive creature.

In 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature an endangered species, noting that the Javan fishing cat subspecies may qualify as critically endangered, the step before extinction.

But that was based on the last survey of cat tracks carried out on the Indonesian island – in the early 1990s.

Fishing cat tracks

“Fishing cat tracks are fairly distinctive. There’s very little you can confuse it with particularly on an island like Java,” says Giordano. “Fishing cat tracks are really interesting in the sense that unlike other cats, on average you’ll see the claws in their prints due to their semi-retractable claw system.”

There’s been only rumour or hearsay since then. People say they have seen them, but it turns out to be the more common leopard cat, which shares a similar habitat and markings.

Since the 1990s, many of the wetlands and coastal mangroves that make up the Javan fishing cat’s habitat have been developed and the fate of the subspecies is unknown.

The biggest threats to these felines are habitat destruction and poaching as they come in contact with human-dominated landscapes. “Java only has about 12 per cent of its original mangroves. This is the death knell for fishing cats,” says Giordano.

About the size of a large domestic cat, fishing cats have a stocky build and leopard-like spots. They live in wetland environments across South and South-East Asia, taking cover in vegetation-heavy areas during the day and hunting at night.

Historic range

The fishing cat is found in isolated pockets left over from its historic range. “When we look at fishing cat distribution, we’re looking at what the distribution of wetlands was across South-East Asia anywhere from 1 to 5 million years ago,” says Giordano.

Java is the southernmost part of their range, a spot Giordano calls a “lone outpost” for fishing cats.

He still holds out hope that the subspecies hasn’t gone extinct and that he’ll find it on this expedition.

“It’s a small cat, but don’t tell the fishing cat that. It’s a really badass cat — they’re not to be trifled with,” he says. “They’re also adaptable.”

He notes the fishing cats been observed in other parts of the world surviving in suburban waterways. His survey will consist of interviews with locals to find clues to their whereabouts, but actually coming across one on Java might be as tough as, well, herding cats.

“Rather than invest in tech resources like camera traps, we’re going to retrace the steps of this earlier expedition and focus on the people. No one knows these things better than the local people,” he says. “The best thing to do is a people-focused project to get an idea of what the evidence is for their persistence and where.”