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Domestic cats are VERY successful hunters in general, with the highest success rates of all animals in that kingdom. That said, I don’t know what success looks

by d4mi3n 4y ago

Domestic cats are VERY successful hunters in general, with the highest success rates of all animals in that kingdom. That said, I don’t know what success looks like over different kinds of prey. Over the last year or so we’ve also had a pretty bad outbreak of avian flu which has done a lot to depress bird populations—though my understanding is it has been mainly farmed chickens and turkeys that have been hard hit.

shagie 4y ago
That title is held by the black footed cat - https://www.livescience.com/63992-deadliest-cat.html https://www.livescience.com/63992-deadliest-cat.html > In one night, a black-footed cat kills between 10 and 14 rodents or small birds, averaging a kill about every 50 minutes, according to Hunter. With a 60 percent success rate, black-footed cats are about three times as successful as lions, which average a successful kill about 20 to 25 percent of the time, Hunter said. Compare with the domestic house cat - https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563 https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563 > Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month, leading to an estimated ecological impact per cat of 14.2-38.9 prey ha^−1 yr^−1. This is similar or higher than the per-animal ecological impact of wild carnivores but the effect is amplified by the high density of cats in neighborhoods. As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within ~100 m of their homes. Related... https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 > We estimate that cats in the contiguous United States annually kill between 1.3 and 4.0 billion birds (median=2.4 billion) (Fig. 1a), with ∼69% of this mortality caused by un-owned cats. The predation estimate for un-owned cats was higher primarily due to predation rates by this group averaging three times greater than rates for owned cats.
- jhugo 4y ago
  > Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month I think owners would not be aware of a lot of a cat's hunting activity if it has access to the outdoors.
  - falcolas 4y ago
    On the contrary, outdoor cats love to bring their meals indoors. Partially because it's a safe place to eat it, and also because they try and give it to their owners first (who are obviously terrible hunters, since they've yet to catch a single mouse).
    - msrenee 4y ago
      Yes, some outdoor cats bring some of their meals inside. That does not mean all of them even bring a majority inside. Owner-reported predation is a terribly inaccurate way to estimate kills. Honestly, subject-reported nearly anything has downsides and issues with inaccurate reporting. It's generally not the best way to gather data.

by d4mi3n 4y ago

shagie 4y ago

That title is held by the black footed cat - https://www.livescience.com/63992-deadliest-cat.html https://www.livescience.com/63992-deadliest-cat.html > In one night, a black-footed cat kills between 10 and 14 rodents or small birds, averaging a kill about every 50 minutes, according to Hunter. With a 60 percent success rate, black-footed cats are about three times as successful as lions, which average a successful kill about 20 to 25 percent of the time, Hunter said. Compare with the domestic house cat - https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563 https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563 > Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month, leading to an estimated ecological impact per cat of 14.2-38.9 prey ha^−1 yr^−1. This is similar or higher than the per-animal ecological impact of wild carnivores but the effect is amplified by the high density of cats in neighborhoods. As a result, pet cats around the world have an ecological impact greater than native predators but concentrated within ~100 m of their homes. Related... https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 > We estimate that cats in the contiguous United States annually kill between 1.3 and 4.0 billion birds (median=2.4 billion) (Fig. 1a), with ∼69% of this mortality caused by un-owned cats. The predation estimate for un-owned cats was higher primarily due to predation rates by this group averaging three times greater than rates for owned cats.

jhugo 4y ago
> Owners reported that their pets killed an average of 3.5 prey items/month I think owners would not be aware of a lot of a cat's hunting activity if it has access to the outdoors.
- falcolas 4y ago
  On the contrary, outdoor cats love to bring their meals indoors. Partially because it's a safe place to eat it, and also because they try and give it to their owners first (who are obviously terrible hunters, since they've yet to catch a single mouse).
  - msrenee 4y ago
    Yes, some outdoor cats bring some of their meals inside. That does not mean all of them even bring a majority inside. Owner-reported predation is a terribly inaccurate way to estimate kills. Honestly, subject-reported nearly anything has downsides and issues with inaccurate reporting. It's generally not the best way to gather data.