Hello all
There appears to be a concerted effort by some out there to convince the
public that Northern (tropical) feral cats are no different and have
been on mainland Australia, no longer than any of the others feral cats
that we see roaming the bush across the rest of the land. In my
experience, that does not seem correct and is probably wrong. The
theory that northern tropical feral cats were introduced by early
Makassar sailors to me seems not only plausible, but likely.
Having had a lifelong interest in wildlife and and during the 90's
mapped most of the ancient Makassar trepang (Sea Cucumbers,
Holothurians) camps located along the coast from Darwin to Boome, I
observed that most feral cats in remote coastal areas away from towns
are similar if not identical in appearance to a typical Timor/Makassar
tabby type. Furthermore, compared to the larger type feral cats of
inland Australia, the behaviour and habits of the feral cats inhabiting
remote coastal tropical areas are more cryptic and, notwithstanding the
heavier vegetation cover of their habitat, much more difficult to locate
compared to their inland cousins. Tropical feral cats have a much more
uniform appearance, seem smaller and are distinctively different
compared to feral cats of inland Australia. Of course, there is an
obviuos influence of more typical house cat type ferals as one moved
closer to established human communities.
The absence of cats found at ancient Makassar archaeological sites
across northern Australian coast is not surprising. This does not
diminish the possibility/probability that cats were introduced to
northern Australia many years, probably more than 400+ years before
European settlement by Makassar or even earlier, by Madagascan sailors.
How many dead cats would one really expect to see at any archaeological
site in northern Australia including European sites?
It has been stated there are no cats to be seen in ancient aboriginal
art. However, for all its unique cultural significance, Aboriginal art
is not the most reliable form of natural history recording. In some of
the remotest parts of the Kimberley coast there are what is known as
Bradshaw style (Gyorn Gyorn) paintings(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradshaw_rock_paintings ) among many other
things, showing what appear to be Madagascan type sailors wearing
trouser tassels and representing other characteristic artefacts' some
including animals and sailing boats. The fact that the Bradshaw
paintings precedes aboriginal art and have been painted over by ancient
Wanjana aboriginal paintings; themselves known to be hundreds of years
older than first known European visits to the mainland has become
controversial. Bradshaw paintings could be 60000 years old but, to
discuss this topic is considered in some circles to be politically
incorrect, just like the discussion around the likelihood that feral
cats have probably been on mainland Australia for a long time, at least
many hundreds of years too.
This likely theory clearly disturbs many cat haters. It appears that,
notwithstanding the predation of an occasional night parrot, it is
difficult for a cat hater to argue or acknowledge that much of the
damage that can be caused by feral cats has probably already been done
and that the natural environment is most likely now accommodating an
uncomfortable balance; and that the impacts from feral cats are now more
likely determined from population fluctuations due to varying but
natural seasonal conditions.
This is not to say that we should not be doing everything possi9ble to
protect vulnerable species of native wildlife from the direct impact of
predators, both native and feral. Obviously to protect some vulnerable
rare species, predator control measures are imperative however the
problem of feral cats needs to be kept in perspective and unless voices
of reason are heard regarding this problem, there is every likelihood
that a broad scale attack on feral cats will not only be ineffective and
hideously expensive, but more than likely will do more damage than good.
regards
Ian May
St Helens, Tasmania
PS Yesterday, across this locality in NE Tasmania, we experienced a
two hour flyover of Spine-tailed Swifts (WTNT) from 0830.
After 0930, I drove about the district from Dianna Basin to Priory and
from St Helens Point and Stieglitz to Binalong Bay to confirm that it
was happening all across the broad area. Throughout this time, there
were between 1 and 5 birds in any field of view, rarely any period when
birds were not evident, their general movement was inland. Impossible
to estimate numbers but must have been many hundreds, or possibly a
thousand + birds. Earlier in the morning, we watched the slow offshore
movement of a dense rain bearing low pressure tough moving offshore from
St Helens point. The front was carrying many hundreds of Albatross and
Petrels.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
wrote:
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
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