Fisher Facts
Credits: UNH Wildlife Profiles
Written by Ellen J. Snyder, Wildlife Specialist, UNH Cooperative Extension.
Desktop publishing provided by UNHCE Educational Marketing and Information
Office, University of New Hampshire.
Fisher
(Martes pennanti)
Description:
Fishers (locally called fisher-cat, although they're not related to cats
nor do they eat a lot of cats) have long, slender bodies with muscular,
short legs similar to their cousins--weasel, mink, marten, and otter.
Their thick, grayish-brown to brownish-black glossy fur tends to be darker
on females. White-tipped hairs on older fisher give a grizzled appearance.
Fisher have strong claws for climbing and a long, bushy, black, tapered
tail. Males average 4-12 pounds, about twice the size of females.
Range and Distribution:
Fisher are found from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia east to
northern Minnesota, upstate New York, northern New England, and eastern
Canada and south to the California Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Rocky
Mountains in Wyoming.
Once common throughout New England, fisher declined due to over-trapping,
logging, and land conversion. Trapping regulations and agricultural
abandonment leading to natural reforestation enabled fisher populations to
rebound throughout the Granite State.
Habits and Habitat:
Fisher, although carnivorous, generally eat whatever comes along. Their main
prey include snowshoe hare, porcupine, small mammals (mice, voles, shrews,
moles) , and squirrels (gray, red, and flying squirrels). They also feed on
birds, amphibians, insects, fruits, nuts, and carrion. They help keep mice
and vole numbers under control. Fisher 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. Mating occurs in March and
April with a litter of 1-6 (average is 3) kits born nearly a year later.
Females usually give birth in a tree cavity 20-30 feet off the ground.
Fishers are solitary except during the mating season. Fisher travel along
ridges, crossing stream valleys to reach the next ridge.
They range widely in search of food, traveling up to 60 miles on some
hunting forays. They regularly travel over 10-20 square miles, although this
home range is not defended. Fisher are active throughout the year, mostly at
night, sunrise, and sunset.
Fisher occupy mature softwood, mixed hardwood-softwood, and forested
wetlands. The amount of structural diversity is likely more important as
habitat criteria than the tree species and forest types. Fisher use hollow
trees and logs, rocky outcrops, old porcupine dens, root masses, and brush
piles as den sites and hunting areas. They'll tear apart decaying snags in
search of their prey. To keep warm during cold spells they seek shelter in
these temporary dens or under the snow. The meandering tracks of fisher are
easily seen on snow cover in winter, whereas the animal itself is elusive.
Deep snows, however, limit the mobility of fisher.
Management
The following management strategies will help maintain fisher habitat:
Retain a diversity of dead, dying and down woody material, including
cavity trees.
Retain or create dense forest patches of softwood understory cover.
Release and maintain wild apple trees.
Create small forest openings to enhance vegetation diversity and prey
abundance.
Minimize fragmentation of forested habitat from development.
UNH Cooperative Extension programs and policies are consisternt with
pertinent Federal and State laws and regulations on non-descrimination
regarding age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, or veteran's status. College of Life Sciences and
Agriculture, County Governments, N.H. Division of Forests and Lands,
Department of Resources and Economic Development, N.H. Fish and Game
Department, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Services cooperating.
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