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Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Better to bluff than run: conservation implications of feral-cat prey selectivity

John L. Read https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0605-5259 A B * , Katherine E. Moseby https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0691-1625 B C and Hugh W. McGregor B D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

B Arid Recovery, Roxby Downs, SA, Australia.

C Centre for Ecosystem Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

D University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas, Australia.

* Correspondence to: ecological67@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Shannon Dundas

Wildlife Research 51, WR23138 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR23138
Submitted: 10 February 2023  Accepted: 14 May 2024  Published: 11 June 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

Predators typically select prey on the basis of their availability and traits such as body size, speed, camouflage and behaviour that influence ease of capture. Such selectivity, particularly by invasive predators, can disproportionately affect the conservation status of prey. Control of top-order predators can also trigger trophic cascades if subordinate predators have different prey preference.

Aims

We aimed to document prey selectivity of feral cats by comparing their diet with prey availability over a 27-year study in an Australian desert.

Methods

Stomach-content and demographic data were recorded from 2293 feral cats, showing 3939 vertebrate prey. These were compared with vertebrate-prey availability estimated from 224,472 pitfall-trap nights, 9791 Elliott-trap nights and opportunistic sampling that accumulated 9247 small mammal and 32,053 herptile records. Potential bird availability was assessed through 2072 quantitative counts amounting to 29,832 bird records. We compared cat selectivity among species, guilds, and physical and behavioural traits of potential prey.

Key results

Prey guild selectivity from two quantitative subsets of these data indicated that cats preferentially selected medium-sized rodents, snakes and ground-nesting birds over other prey guilds, and also preyed extensively on rabbits, for which selectivity could not be assessed. Species that froze or responded defensively to predators were less favoured than were prey that fled, including fast-evading species. Species inhabiting dunes were hunted more frequently relative to their abundance than were closely related species on stony plains.

Conclusions

The size, habitat preference and response to predators of potential prey species affect their targeting by feral cats.

Implications

Our results assist assessment of risk to wildlife species from cat predation and suggest that cat control will trigger changes in the relative abundance of prey species depending on their size, habitat use and behaviour.

Keywords: avoidance behaviour, conservation, diet, Felis catus, prey, selectivity, traits, trophic cascades.

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