Natural History

Feral cat

A feral cat or stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (Felis catus) that lives freely outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens of generations and become a mesopredator or even a local apex predator in urban, savannah and bushland environments, especially on islands where native animals did not evolve alongside natural predators. Some feral cats may become more comfortable with people who regularly feed them, but even with long-term attempts at socialization, they usually remain aloof and are most active after dusk. Of the 700 million cats in the world, an estimated 480 million are feral. Feral cats are devastating to wildlife, especially birds, and conservation biologists consider them to be one of the worst invasive species. They are included in IUCN's list of the world's 100 worst invasive alien species. Attempts to control feral cat populations are widespread but generally of greatest impact within purpose-fenced reserves. Some animal rights groups advocate trap-neuter-return programs to prevent the feral cats from continuing to breed. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that TNR is not effective at controlling feral cat populations.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Anzoátegui
• ▸Jan Matejko
• ▸Java mouse-deer

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.