Thank you for your reply Eric.
I genuinely appreciate your effort to reply to me and will study the
papers you have sent me. Because of your considered reply, and the
serious nature of the subject, I will try and answer your comments as
best I can. I agree it would be great to see a thorough genetic
study to examine the source of feral cats in Australia, especially to
compare cats from the remotest parts of the kimberley coast and top
end to those found from both Sulawesi, Java and Madagascar (or
anywhere other likely source.). If the study was done in a truly
scientific manner to find actual results without an agenda that was
not trying to prove a pre existing assumption that cats were either
here or not here before European colonisation of Australia.
Just to clarify, I am not a cat lover or cat owner, in fact have an
allergy of cats. My position on this comes from many years ago when
I worked on the Kimberley Coast and from reading old maritime journals
about the area from any source I could get hold of. I cannot
remember where now but I did read of the earliest European maritime
explorers along the northern Australian coast encountering Makassar's
trepang (sea cucumber) fisherman off Arnhem Land and it was noted that
their trepang boats carried numerous cats on board for rat control.
There are many ancient trepang camps along the Kimberley coast. The
sites are characterised by a sheltered wave action coast, good high
tide access, reasonably well sheltered location and the presence of
very old Boab trees and even more distinctively, Tamarind trees. Some
of these camps are very established and probably existed for many
generations. Although it is subjective speculation, it makes sense to
me that over such a long period of time, the trepang fisherman would
have taken cats ashore as both pets and for vermin control at their
cooking/storage sites.
The comment regarding more harm than good relates to personal
experience with failed animal control programmes, especially Red
Kangaroos, Rabbits and Goats and to a lesser extent with horses,
donkeys and camels. During the late 70's, 80's and early 90's, I was
wildlife officer based at Leigh Creek and observed/participated in
various programs in northern flinders ranges, simpson desert,
Strzelecki desert and cooper creek where rabbits were shot intensively
in several areas over many years only to find that when severe drought
struck an area, rabbits crashed severely nearly everywhere except,
where the shooters had been operating. The most intensive control
areas were the very best areas for rabbit drought survival. Away
from the shooting sites, it took years before rabbit numbers built up
again. Where rabbits had crashed, we observed remarkable vegetation
regeneration however around the control areas, the rabbit population
was back within a year or two of the drought. This was a classic case
where an animal population benefited by managing it below the carrying
capacity of the land. This is my fear with ineffective cat control
If we had left the rabbits alone, the population would probably have
crashed severely in our control areas as it did everywhere else due to
the drought (food starvation) but instead, the rabbits hung on in low
numbers and when the drought broke, irrupting from the very areas we
were managing .
As you would know, Red Kangaroos are commercially harvested. Along
the Dog Fence in SA, Red Kangaroos were harvested as much as anywhere
else however, it was found that in some areas such as Murnpeowie,
Moolawatana, Wooltana, Balcanoona, when all the older larger adult
males were taken out along the fence, the space (The vacuum) was
filled by mostly juvenile and younger animals. Notwithstanding the
anticipated natural nomadic movements of the population, often greater
numbers would move in than were previously resident. The older
resident roos being more territorial had kept most of the younger
animals away or moved them on The new uneducated arrivals were
apparently not fence trained and consequently, fence damage would
increase significantly in the area.
These are just two cases of unintended consequences but from my
perspective, the damage caused by sporadic animal control measures
usually creates a vacuum that inevitably is filled by other
undesirables and that is what usually causes more harm than good.
Having said that, direct action by constructing and managing effective
vermin enclosures has proven to be highly effective in specific cases
but the ongoing cost of management and maintenance is huge.
Anyway, that's about it from me for now but regarding the makassan
traders, of interest is http://austhrutime.com/macassan_traders.htm
regards
Ian May
St Helens Tasmania 7216
0428337956
------------------------------------------------------------------------
wrote:
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your email regarding cats. I've responded to various
points you've made within the email.
Regards,
Eric
On 9 Mar 2015, at 4:21 pm, "Ian May" <
<>> wrote:
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.
I'm not sure who is making this concerted effort. Do you mean the
authors of papers on timing of feral cat arrival and spread? (Sorry,
I haven't re-read the papers yet, but I think someone else on the
list responded with the references. Let me know if you'd like me to
email a copy. I'm sure I have it/them in the office). If it's the
media you are referring to, then I think "they" just generally tow
the line of what they see scientists saying (and there's not a whole
lot of scientific literature on the origin of cats in Australia). If
it's me or anyone else on the birding list, then I haven't seen
concerted effort put into convincing anyone of anything regarding
time frame of cats in Australia.
In my experience, that does not seem correct and is probably wrong.
By "in my experience" do you mean northern cats look different? For
the most part I agree. Though I know there's been some work published
on differences between Felis silvestris ornata and F. s. silvestris
(Asian wildcat) and apparently the difference isn't much. I don't
know if I have papers on that but I'll have a look. For me what it
comes down to is not so much whether I think the cats look different
or not, it's more a question of what does the available evidence say?
The theory that northern tropical feral cats were introduced by
early Makassar sailors to me seems not only plausible, but likely.
I agree, but the science that I can find seems to tell another story.
Like I said in my previous email, I can see no supporting evidence
for the hypothesis of an earlier introduction of cats to Australia.
No one has emailed me with any later papers than the one/s I alluded
to, so I'm guessing there's no new research on the topic. I'd love to
see a genetic study on feral cats across Australia, especially small,
rangy ones from the top end, Groote, Kimberleys and anywhere else the
Makassans traded.
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.
There is also the potential that tropical cats are advantaged by a
smaller build and whatever other features make them look distinctly
different compared to feral cats of inland Australia. That is,
morphological traits could be adaptive rather than indicative of
geographic origin.
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.
However, it certainly is a point more in favour of ~200 years ago
introduction than in introduction~600 years ago.
How many dead cats would one really expect to see at any
archaeological site in northern Australia including European sites?
I'm no archaeologist or anthropologist. Did you do anything on
aboriginal middens when you were doing the trepanging mapping work in
the NW? To me the logical question would be how much of any cat-sized
animal is left?
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.
I have no agenda in any of these regards, that is, date of first
humans in Australia, Bradshaw paintings, date of arrival of cats. I
want to see evidence one way or another. I remember reading the
papers on cat arrivals and subsequent invasion and being convinced by
the author's hypothesis. I don't remember seeing any evidence to the
contrary. I still see none.
This likely theory clearly disturbs many cat haters.
I don't consider it a likely theory until I see some evidence for it.
I don't know about the "cat haters" moniker; I don't reckon that'll
get us anywhere.
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.
Definitely much of the damage that feral cats could cause has
probably already been done. I would suggest that, whether they've
been here ~200 years or ~600, that's quite a while to equilibrate.
I'm not so sure about your assertion that impacts from feral cats are
now more likely determined from population fluctuations due to
varying seasons. I suspect human influences play well into the impact
cats have: we graze, which reduces cover, which may give cats a
hunting advantage; we burn, which reduces cover, ditto; we fragment
ad nauseum, etc etc. And these activities occur in an already
fragmented, heavily exploited regional and continental scale, such
that the option of flying (hopping, running) is no longer available
to many species.
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.
I agree that broad scale attacks on feral cats are likely to be
expensive and probably ineffective. I'm not sure what you mean by
doing more damage than good. I think AWC has a pretty good model of
cat control for conservation purposes (clearing them out of fenced
areas). Given the difficulty of catching them we've got little chance
of regional or continental scale control at present.
Cats are an intriguing topic I reckon and certainly capable of
polarising people. I don't want to go down that path.
Regards,
Eric
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.
Spine-tailed swifts are my favourite animal. Life support system for
a wing. There's been very few up here (north Queensland) in the last
few years.
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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