Ecology of the Feral Cat, Felis catus (L.), in South-Eastern Australia III.* Home Ranges and Population Ecology in Semiarid North-West Victoria

Abstract

This paper reports home range sizes and population ecology of feral cats in a 19000-ha study area situated in the Victorian Mallee. Movements of six cats were monitored by radio-tracking for 8-21 months. Adults maintained discrete home ranges; areas varied from 3.3 to 9.9 (mean 6.2) km2 for males and from 0.7 to 2.7 (mean 1 ,7) km2 for females. Rabbit warrens, hollow logs and dense thickets were favoured daytime refuges. Mean daily straight-line distances moved bet-veen daytime refuges varied from 0.06 km for a female with juveniles to 1.67 km for an adult male. Relative abundance of cats over four years showed seasonal fluctuations, with summer maxima and winter or spring minima; the calculated mean summer and winter densities were 2.4 and 0.74 cats per km2 respectively. Summer maxima were composed of adults, adolescents and juveniles; winter minima were usually composed only of adults. Mortality, presumably caused by a nutritional stress acting particularly on subadults, maintained the adult population at a relatively stable level.