![]() ![]() ![]() Cats that hunted and brought home wild prey scored high for ‘extraversion’ or low for ‘neuroticism’, when compared to cats that did not bring home wild prey. ![]() Owners completed a questionnaire assessing their cats’ behavioural traits, and recorded prey items brought home by their pets. We recruited owners of domestic cats kept as companion animals in southwest England. We tested whether variation in scores for these five factors, quantifying owners’ characterisation of their cats, was associated with capturing and bringing home wild prey, and was related to variation among cats in numbers of recorded prey. Recent work has identified five owner-ascribed personality factors for cats (“The Feline Five”). Many free-roaming cats living as companion animals capture, kill and/or bring home few or no prey, while others are prolific killers and likely contribute disproportionately to any impacts upon wild animal populations. The predatory behaviour of domestic cats shows remarkable between-individual variation. In many ecological contexts, predation of wildlife by domestic cats Felis catus, combined with their abundance, is a threat to biodiversity conservation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |