New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Seventeen years of predation by one suburban cat in New Zealand
John E. C. Flux
Ecological Research Associates of New Zealand
230 Hill Road
Belmont
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
flux@paradise.net.nz
Abstract The 558 prey items brought home by
one domestic cat,
recorded over its 17-year lifetime, included 221 mice, 63 rats,
35 rabbits, 4 hares and 2 weasels. The cat hunted up to 600 m from the
house, and prey was caught both inside and outside the 0.5 ha garden.
Of the 223 birds brought in, 54 were native, including 43 silvereyes (Zosterops
lateralis), but those killed were quickly replaced, so there was
always a resident population of 1–2 pairs. The other known native birds
comprised five fantails (Rhipidura fuliginosa), four warblers (Gerygone
igata), a kingfisher (Halcyon sancta), and a shining cuckoo (Chrysococcyx
lucidus). Only nine skinks (Cyclodina aenea) and one frog (Litoria
raniformis) were brought in. The abundance of birds and reptiles in
the garden showed no apparent change over the 17 years compared with
the previous 15-year-period without a cat. By contrast, the cat
exterminated the rabbit population in the garden, and “farmed”
surrounding burrows during its whole life; all other prey killed
declined in frequency after the cat was 8–9 years old.
Keywords birds; domestic cat; Felis
catus; mustelids;
predation; rabbits; rodents
Z07015; Online publication date 14 September 2007; Received 22 April
2007; accepted 25 August 2007
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2007, Vol. 34: 289–296
0301–4223/07/3404–0289 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2007
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