Endangered in Sri Lanka · Vulnerable globally
For more than a decade, we have followed fishing cats through Colombo to understand how they survive within one of South Asia's most urbanised landscapes.
Remaining wetlands
15%
of Metropolitan Colombo remains wetland.
Colombo's remaining wetlands store floodwater, improve water quality, and support an extraordinary diversity of wildlife. They also provide the habitat and connections that allow fishing cats to persist within the city.
Why wetlands matter
Meet the species
1
documented urban fishing cat population in central Colombo.
Built for life in wetlands, fishing cats are powerful swimmers that hunt fish, frogs, birds and small mammals. In Colombo, they also move through canals, gardens, road verges and built neighbourhoods, usually unnoticed by the people living nearby.
Meet the fishing catResearch begins.
Fishing cats confirmed in Colombo.
GPS tracking documents how fishing cats move through wetlands, canals and neighbourhoods.
Plastic ingestion identified in Colombo's urban wetland food web.
Expanding urban wildlife connectivity research.
Applying more than a decade of research to understand how roads affect wildlife movement and help inform safer infrastructure planning across Sri Lanka.
Monitoring wildlife across Colombo's remaining wetlands to document species, behaviour and long-term change.
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Following individual fishing cats to understand how they move through wetlands, neighbourhoods and the wider city.
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Examining diet to understand prey selection and how urban food webs support fishing cats.
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Identifying where roads affect wildlife movement and informing safer infrastructure planning.
Read moreWhy it matters
Understanding how wildlife persists in urban landscapes is becoming increasingly important as cities continue to expand. The research being carried out in Colombo is contributing to a broader understanding of urban ecology while informing conservation planning both within the city and beyond.
Follow the project through new discoveries, field observations, collaborations and research updates.
Ever seen those tile-like scales on the top of the head of a snake? Those are called cephalic (derived from the Greek word kephale which means head) plates. Now you know why snakehead fish…
Read the noteSupport
Long-term research depends on returning to the same places, year after year.
Your support helps maintain field surveys, monitoring equipment and the long-term datasets that make this work possible.
Whether you report a fishing cat or make a donation, you are helping extend one of the world's longest-running studies of an urban fishing cat population.
