Sad that this is a bigger story than a feral cat devouring a ground
parrot...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-03/tourists-flock-to-japans-cat-island-ao
shima/6278128
Ken Cross
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Sent: Tuesday, 3 March 2015 10:46 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: cats
Hi Michael,
I believe there is no support for the hypothesis that cats were established
in Australia prior to European settlement. There's been a paper or two on
this from a few years back but I'll have to dig it/them out when I get back
to the office. From memory the evidence was based on time frames of
invasion, and old reports, ship records, etc. There may have been something
genetic in there too, but I can't really remember. I do remember being
satisfied that the researcher(s) had been thorough, and they convinced me.
It's a bit of a longstanding myth, and I certainly believed it based on the
appearances of some cats I'd seen in N. Aust. If you or anyone else on the
list has recent papers supporting the alternative hypothesis, of multiple
introductions including prior to European settlement, I'd love to see them,
because it's something I like to keep up with.
And without really wanting to cause a stir, I think it's a bit like the myth
of the large outback moggie, fed a high-protein diet (as opposed to?). My
former boss did some work on cats and from memory the average size was under
4 kg (n = a 100 or so from memory). There are large Felis catus (to avoid
the term "big cats") out there, but I've seen hundreds of cats that I would
put in the 2 - 4 kg guesstimate and about three that were big, maybe > 5 kg.
Again, I'll dig out the figures when I get back to the office.
Regards,
Eric
> On 3 Mar 2015, at 7:19 pm, "Michael Hunter" <>
wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi All.
>
> Cats have been a major issue for Australian Wildlife for centuries,
and they have modified the distribution and survival of birds and animals
since first introduced, from Indonesia by the Makassar's and later by
Europeans. Apparently the Northwest half of Oz has genetically Indonesian
type cats, the Southeast are European, for what that is worth.
>
> Controlling them will take a lot of research and labour, but once
effective control methods are invented, distributing those controls would be
worthwhile. It cost $25 million to control rabbits on Macquarie Island,
what price Night Parrot ad other ground or termite mound nesters and what
are left of our small mammals
>
> The novel spray-on poison for fastidious felines noted by Charles in a
recent post is very interesting. Just how you would get the pussies to pass
the spraying machine is another matter.
>
> I imagine that pheromones, odours derived from mating female cats,
could be isolated, concentrated and spread around to attract males from far
and wide, and possibly territorial females, would be effective.
>
> We had a cat problem which was solved by trapping in a possum trap
baited with "Snappy Tom" canned cat food, and the miscreants humanely and
painlessly disposed of via the local vet. Feral cats are said to be
extremely indisposed to entering metal traps. Research into overcoming that
problem (larger traps sprayed with pheromones and completely devoid of human
odour) should work at least some of the time.
>
> How about Feline Distemper? Hunting dogs in restricted areas?
>
> Research into the territorial areas of feral cats is a must, maybe it has
already been done.
>
> Some of you guys with a lot more time than me might surf the net for
answers?
>
> Cheers
>
> Michael
>
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR>
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
