I love fishers. I mean, I’d rather not try to hug one, and I’d certainly prefer to not meet one in a back alley, but other than that, I really love ’em.
They’re fast. They’re ferocious. They can climb trees. And any critter that regularly preys on porcupines, then calmly uses that animal’s quills as toothpicks has my undying respect.
OK. Maybe I made up the part about toothpicks. But they do eat porcupines.
Today’s trail camera gem — a nighttime fisher pic — comes from Mike Jenkins, who captured the image in Twin Mountains, New Hampshire.
If you decide that you want to learn more about this interesting beast, you can check out the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s species page, which offers all kinds of info.
Let’s start with this one fact, though: Don’t call it a “fisher cat.” It’s not a cat. It’s a weasel. And trust me, you don’t want a fisher mad at you.
From that DIF&W page, here’s a bit more information: “For many years the fisher was thought to be an animal whose range was restricted to the most heavily wooded spruce-fir regions of Maine. However, recent population expansions have shown the fisher to be much more adaptable than previously believed. Fishers are closely associated with forested areas throughout their range. Therefore, the amount of fisher habitat in Maine has followed the shift from forestland to farmland and back to forestland over the past 200 years.”
For quite some time — from 1880 to 1920 — Maine’s agricultural land declined, the DIF&W said. But over the next 100 years, conditions have improved for the forest-loving fisher.
“Since 1971, forestland has remained stable at about 90 percent of the land area. Abandoned farmland with its greater diversity of food, may be more suitable for fisher than the original forests,” the DIF&W said.
Watch more:
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