Feral and stray domestic cats occupy many different habitats. They can
resist dehydration for months by relying exclusively on the tissue water
of their prey allowing them to colonize remote deserts and other
inhospitable places. They thrive and reproduce in humid equatorial
rainforests and windswept subantarctic islands. In many areas of the
world feral cats have driven some species of birds and mammals to
extinction and others to the edge, becoming a huge conservation concern.
With the control of feral and stray cats now a top conservation
priority, biologists are intensifying efforts to understand cat
behaviour, reproductive biology, use of space, intraspecies interaction,
dietary requirements, prey preferences, and vulnerability to different
management strategies.
This book provides the most comprehensive review yet published on the
behavior, ecology and management of free-ranging domestic cats, whether
they be owned, stray, or feral. It reviews management methods and their
progress, and questions several widely accepted views of free-ranging
cats, notably that they live within dominance hierarchies and are highly
social.
Insightful and objective, this book includes:
- a functional approach, emphasizing sensory biology, reproductive
physiology, nutrition, and space
partitioning; - clear treatment of how free-ranging cats should be managed;
- extensive critical interpretation of the world's existing literature;
- results of studies of cats in laboratories under controlled
conditions, with data that can also be
applied to pet cats.
Free-ranging Cats: Behavior, Ecology, Management is valuable to
ecologists, conservation scientists, animal behaviorists, wildlife
nutritionists, wildlife biologists, research and wildlife veterinarians,
clinical veterinarians, mammalogists, and park and game reserve planners
and administrators.
