Spatiotemporal and Individual Patterns of Domestic Cat (Felis catus) Hunting Behaviour in France
DE BOUILLANE DE LACOSTE, Nathalie
Société Française pour l'Étude et la Protection des Mammifères [SFEPM]
< Réduire
Société Française pour l'Étude et la Protection des Mammifères [SFEPM]
Langue
en
Article de revue
Ce document a été publié dans
Animals. 2023-11-14, vol. 13, n° 22
MDPI
Résumé en anglais
Domestic cats (Felis catus), one of the most popular pets, are widespread worldwide. This medium-sized carnivore has well-known negative effects on biodiversity, but there is still a need to better understand the approximate ...Lire la suite >
Domestic cats (Felis catus), one of the most popular pets, are widespread worldwide. This medium-sized carnivore has well-known negative effects on biodiversity, but there is still a need to better understand the approximate causes of their predation. Based on a citizen science project, we assessed the role of spatiotemporal (i.e., latitude, longitude, and seasons), climatic (i.e., rainfall), anthropogenic (i.e., human footprint, HFI), and individual (i.e., sex and age) variables on the number of preys returned home by cats in metropolitan France. Over the 5048 cats monitored between 2015 and 2022, prey from 12 different classes (n = 36,568) were returned home: 68% mammals, 21% birds, and 8% squamates. Shrews brought home by cats peaked during summer, while rodents were recorded during summer-autumn. Birds brought home by cats peaked in spring-summer and in autumn, and lizards peaked in spring and in late summer. Lower HFI was associated with more voles and mice brought home, and the opposite trend was observed for lizards and birds. Younger cats were more prone to bring home shrews, birds, and reptiles. Although environmental factors play a minor role in prey brought home by cats, some geographical characteristics of prey species distribution partly explains the hunting behaviour of cats.< Réduire
Mots clés en anglais
domestic cat
citizen science
Felis catus
predation
prey brought home
seasonality
climatic factors
human footprint
individual variability
Origine
Importé de halUnités de recherche