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To begin with, the fact is there is NO such thing as a "fisher cat". It is not actually a cat, but rather a member of the weasel family. They have long, slender bodies with muscular, short legs similar to their cousins, the weasel, mink, marten and otter. Their thick, grayish-brown to brownish-black glossy fur tends to be darker on fisher females. White-tipped hairs on older fisher give a grizzled appearance. They have strong claws for climbing and a long, bushy, black tapered tail. They can grow up to 30 pounds in weight. The males are about twice the size of females, and they typically measure between 30 and 41 inches in length.
Although carnivorous, they generally eat whatever comes along. Their main prey include snowshoe hare, porcupine, small mammals (mice, voles, shrews, moles) and squirrels (red, gray and flying squirrels). They also feed on birds, amphibians, insects, fruits, nuts and carrion. Fisher help keep mice and vole numbers under control. They can also kill porcupines by repeated swift attacks to the face and head. After killing the porcupine, the fisher flips it over on its back and starts eating the belly. Fisher range widely in search of food, traveling up to 60 miles on some hunting forays. They are known to regularly travel over 10 to 20 square miles. They are active throughout the year, mostly at night, sunrise and sunset.
North American marten (Martes pennanti,
a.k.a. "Fisher Cat")
So, why is it that people refer to fishers as "fisher cats" when they indeed are not cats or related to cats? There are many theories as to why fishers are so often called fisher cats. One is that they sometimes hang around barns eating mice, just like a cat would. Another is that the old French word for polecat, or fitchew, a European member of the weasel family, was fissau. This later became ficher (and then fisher or fisher cat) in English. Still another theory is that fishers are widely blamed for devouring housecats that venture out for a stroll in the woods. They are ferocious predators and cats have occasionally been devoured by them.
However, they are not really cats and therefore, they really should be referred to by their correct title - FISHER. Why couldn’t the baseball team, New Hampshire Fisher Cats, be properly titled the New Hampshire Fishers instead?
Do they think they are cats?
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