In the past 40 years, the number of domestic cats in the United States has tripled. Ultimately, larger home ranges of free-ranging cats could negatively impact native wildlife.įelis silvestris catus, the modern day domestic cat, is the most widespread terrestrial carnivorous species on earth and as such, can have a major impact on native prey populations, including small mammals, avian species, and insects. While the free-ranging farm cats in this study did not adjust their home range seasonally, sex and reproductive status did increase diurnal and nocturnal home range size. Invertebrates and birds were less important as prey, but all mammalian prey identified in this study consisted of native animals. Other targeted mammals were Peromyscus sp., Sylvilagus sp. Teeth were used to identify mammalian prey hunted by these cats, of which the Hispid cotton rat ( Sigmodon hispidus) was the primary rodent. Other prey components included fragments of bone in 21.43% of scat and teeth in 12.86% of scat.
Of these 158 scat samples, 86 contained non-cat hair and 72 contained only cat hair. Feline scat processing separated scat into prey parts, and of the 210 feline scats collected during the study, 75.24% contained hair. Reproductively intact cats (n = 2) had larger (P < 0.0001) diurnal and nocturnal home ranges as compared to altered cats. Male cats tended (P = 0.08) to have larger diurnal and nocturnal core home ranges (1.09 ha) compared to female cats (0.64 ha). There was no seasonal effect (P > 0.05) on overall (95% KDE and 90% KDE) or core home range size (50% KDE). Cats were fed a commercial cat food daily. Feline scat was collected during this entire period. Three and five cats were tracked for up to two weeks during the fall and winter seasons, respectively. Seven adult cats were tracked with attached GPS units for up to two weeks for one spring and two summer seasons from May 2010 through August 2011. nocturnal home range size, as well as predation for free-ranging farm cats at a livestock unit in Northwest Georgia. This study’s objective was to determine seasonal and diurnal vs.
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