Own a cat that wanders the neighbourhood?
Ever marvel what they do once they’re not at home?
Curious about their impression on native environments, Jonathan Chu puzzled as properly, after which he got here up with the thought of recording felines with a ‘cat-cam.’
A PhD scholar on the University of Guelph in Ontario, Chu is hoping to study extra in regards to the impact cats have.
“We brought them over as our companion animals, so we want to know if this introduced species (to North America) is having an impact on the native species,” mentioned Chu.
“Some early work suggests that cats may be eating a lot from the environment. Past studies have indicated 100 million to 350 million birds in Canada. That’s quite a big number.”
According to at least one publication, cat homeowners reported that their pets introduced home 3.5 prey objects a month.
Chu says earlier research have requested cat homeowners to listing issues that cats have introduced home, “but it doesn’t give you the full picture, because they may be killing things that they don’t bring home to their owners.”
“The cameras allow us to measure directly everything the cat is potentially hunting. It allows us to measure all the species that it’s hunting. Is it a sensitive species? Is it a native species? That could be one type of problem. If it’s mostly invasive species, like house sparrows, that’s maybe less of a conversation problem. But it would be interesting to know, and that’s what’s unknown currently.”
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Chu has beforehand recorded cats within the Guelph space, and now he’s heading to the South Okanagan, the place he’s in search of volunteers to place cat-cams on their felines.
Asked what sort of video he’s captured so far, Chu mentioned he’s seen cats seek out a stunning number of animals.
“When we first saw an Eastern cottontail (rabbit), I didn’t really realize that they could catch something so big,” mentioned Chu. “But one of the cool realizations I’ve had is that they eat a lot of invertebrates. So, moths, cicadas, grasshoppers. There’s even some footage of a cat bringing a centipede back.”
Chu mentioned this implies cats are opportunistic and may eat a number of issues.
And by bringing the examine to B.C., he’s questioning if native cats hunt completely different prey than what’s been studied up to now in Ontario.
“We’d expect it to be (different),” mentioned Chu, “but we’d like to know for sure.”
He added that some cats don’t hunt however that others are voracious, “so there’s variation on how much a cat eats from the outdoors. Wnd that’s another huge unknown: Why are certain cats eating a lot?”
Chu mentioned understanding cat predation charges in Canada can result in administration methods.
If you’re a cat proprietor and all for becoming a member of the examine, log on for extra data.
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