Thursday, August 9, 2012

University of Georgia scientists' shocking discovery: Cats like to hunt

Well knock me over with a feather:
Results indicate that a minority of roaming cats in Athens (44%) hunt wildlife and that reptiles, mammals and invertebrates constitute the majority of suburban prey. Hunting cats captured an average of 2 items during seven days of roaming. Carolina anoles (small lizards) were the most common prey species followed by Woodland Voles (small mammals). Only one of the vertebrates captured was a non-native species (a House Mouse). Eighty-five percent of wildlife captures were witnessed during the warm season (March-November in the southern US). Cats roaming during warmer seasons were more likely to exhibit hunting behavior and the number of captures per hunting cat is expected to decrease with increasing cat age. Cat age, sex, and time spent outside did not significantly influence hunting behavior.
I eagerly await the results of their forthcoming study on which direction the sun rises in.  Can't wait for that one.

10 comments:

ASM826 said...

They been working on that sunrise study but have decided to submit another grant proposal and collect more data before publishing.

ProudHillbilly said...

And that would be why I have a sprinkler with a motion sensor protecting the area around my bird feeder. Yeesh.

chiefjaybob said...

Oh, please, please, PLEASE tell me this was a federally-funded study....

Dirk said...

Hm. My cats favor chipmunks - probably about 90% of the "presents" they leave in the garage. I guess the small mouse-like things are voles, though we don't get too many of those left. I've only seen one or two anoles. And I can second the "hunting season", though they also tend to be less active when it's exceptionally hot.

But...to the point...whyinhell does anyone give enough of a crap about cat hunting habits to spend a dime on researching it? What kind of blackmail material did the researchers have on the grant committee that they could get something like this funded?

Anonymous said...

In Kansas, my feline prefers lizards first, with birds and young rabbits tied for second.

At least, these are what he leaves at the back door.

Dave H said...

What kind of blackmail material did the researchers have on the grant committee that they could get something like this funded?

It's an ecology issue. House cats aren't native to North America, but they're putting a dent in the native animal populations.

Just another example of how humans have abused Mother Nature. We're such ungrateful children.

Doug Rink said...

I have cats, and I know everything shown in the study is typical cat. It's a shame many people today fail to see the natural order of things happening all around them. Too many today act like something has to be 'caught on video' to be presumed valid.

Old NFO said...

Gah... Another YGTBSM moment...

greg said...

I've always heard, anecdotally, that cats are the only animals that kill just for the fun of it, and this study backed it, showing that roughly 49% of what the cats killed was left to rot. I know my kitten would be a stone cold killer if we let her outside...

Dirk said...

See, I think it's not actually "killing for the fun of it." I think they're playing with their prey, and the prey just isn't up to being tossed in the air, batted around, pounced on, etc. The cats do the same thing to live prey that they do with their cat toys.