Thank you Peter. Interesting discussion for me and also Colins paper
is very interesting reading and cannot argue his processes.
Eric Vanderduys sent me some papers also of interest.
I will post a reply on birding aus soon
regards
Ian
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Shute wrote:
Ian, have you read the paper linked to by Colin Trainor earlier?
www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/about/science/cswa/articles/23.pdf
The author hypothesises the spread of cats by using reports of cats mentioned
in old diaries, etc. He says there were none feral before 1820. Perhaps it's
possible that the Timor/Makassar type of cat that you mentioned is more
prevalent in the north, but weren't introduced any earlier than the southern
types.
He suggests that their spread may have been aided by the spread of rabbits,
which would mean that older populations might not have spread until more
recently.
Peter Shute
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus
On Behalf Of Ian May
Sent: Monday, 9 March 2015 5:21 PM
To:
Cc: ;
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] cats and also WTNT in NE Tasmania
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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