Free-ranging farm cats: home range size and predation on a livestock unit in Northwest Georgia

This study’s objective was to determine seasonal and diurnal vs. nocturnal home range size, as well as predation for free-ranging farm cats at a livestock unit in Northwest Georgia. Seven adult cats were tracked with attached GPS units for up to two weeks for one spring and two summer seasons from May 2010 through August 2011. Three and five cats were tracked for up to two weeks during the fall and winter seasons, respectively. Feline scat was collected during this entire period. Cats were fed a commercial cat food daily. There was no seasonal effect (P > 0.05) on overall (95% KDE and 90% KDE) or core home range size (50% KDE). Male cats tended (P = 0.08) to have larger diurnal and nocturnal core home ranges (1.09 ha) compared to female cats (0.64 ha). Reproductively intact cats (n = 2) had larger (P < 0.0001) diurnal and nocturnal home ranges as compared to altered cats. Feline scat processing separated scat into prey parts, and of the 210 feline scats collected during the study,...

本研究旨在确定佐治亚州西北部某畜牧养殖单元内散养农场家猫的季节性、昼间与夜间活动家域（home range）面积，以及其捕食情况。2010年5月至2011年8月期间，针对1个春季和2个夏季的共7只成年家猫，通过佩戴全球定位系统（GPS）设备进行追踪，单次追踪时长最长达两周。秋季与冬季分别追踪了3只和5只家猫，单次追踪时长同样最长达两周。研究全程均收集家猫粪便，且每日为受试家猫饲喂商品猫粮。分析结果显示：总体家域（95%核密度估计（Kernel Density Estimation，缩写KDE）与90%KDE）以及核心家域（50%KDE）均未呈现显著的季节效应（P>0.05）。雄性家猫的昼间与夜间核心家域面积（1.09公顷）整体大于雌性家猫（0.64公顷），该差异接近统计学显著水平（P=0.08）。生殖功能完整的家猫（样本量n=2）其昼间与夜间家域面积显著大于绝育家猫（P<0.0001）。研究中对收集的家猫粪便进行处理以分离猎物残骸，本研究共收集到210份家猫粪便……