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| Europe, Asian & African Wildcat - Felis silvestris | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 7 2012, 08:44 PM (22,864 Views) | |
| VenomousDragon | Feb 9 2015, 08:08 PM Post #16 |
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Omnivore
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Neat picture. |
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| Taipan | Dec 5 2015, 02:36 PM Post #17 |
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Where did Australian cats come from? Date: December 4, 2015 Source: BioMed Central Summary: Cats in Australia are most likely descended from those brought by European settlers, researchers conclude. Feral cats found on the islands surrounding Australia may represent founding populations from Europe, introduced in the 19th century, they say. Identifying the timing of the founding of these cat populations increases our knowledge of the effects this invasive species had when introduced to Australia. Researchers have found that cats in Australia are most likely descended from those brought by European settlers. Feral cats found on the islands surrounding Australia may represent founding populations from Europe, introduced in the 19th century, according to research published in open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. Identifying the timing of the founding of these cat populations increases our knowledge of the effects this invasive species had when introduced to Australia. Feral cats (cats that are free-living and independent of humans, but are descended from those that did rely on humans) have established invasive populations over large geographic areas of Australia. There has been much debate about how they arrived in Australia. Cats were often transported on sailing vessels as a means of controlling rodents or as pets, initially on board and then in new settlements. One theory suggests that cats arrived in Australia with European explorers in the late 18th century. Another hypothesis is that cats accompanied Malaysian trepangers -- fishers of sea cucumbers -- to Northern Australia in around 1650. Researchers from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany analyzed mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites -- short repeating sequences of DNA -- from 266 Australian feral cats to explore their evolutionary history and dispersal patterns. Samples were analyzed from six mainland and seven island locations (details of islands listed in paper). The analysis found that the most probable primary source of feral cats in Australia is from cats arriving from Europe in the 19th century. There was evidence of a secondary introduction from Southeast Asia, although there was no evidence of a stable feral cat population originating solely from Asia, which discounts the theory on Malaysian trepangers. The transportation of a species from their native habitat to a new location can have a damaging effect on the new environment, impacting on native species by predation, competition for food, or spreading disease. Two of the 22 invasive mammalian species found in Australia -- European red fox and domestic cat -- are predators. Over 100 native species of Australia are currently threatened by feral cats and previous efforts to reintroduce threatened species into parts of Australia have often been unsuccessful due to predation by these cats. Katrin Koch, lead author from the BiK-F, said: "The analysis of genetic structure and diversity of Australian feral cat populations answered the question of the time of feral cat introduction to Australia and revealed that remnants of the historically introduced cat genotypes are still discernable on isolated islands. These findings have implications for invasive species management, since our study determined a specific time frame for the arrival of cats to Australia, allowing us to link the time of introduction with the decline and extinction of several native species." Story Source: BioMed Central. "Where did Australian cats come from?." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151204000229.htm (accessed December 4, 2015). Journal Reference: K. Koch, D. Algar, J. B. Searle, M. Pfenninger, K. Schwenk. A voyage to Terra Australis: human-mediated dispersal of cats. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2015; 15 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12862-015-0542-7 Abstract Background Cats have been transported as human commensals worldwide giving rise to many feral populations. In Australia, feral cats have caused decline and extinction of native mammals, but their time of introduction and origin is unclear. Here, we investigate hypotheses of cat arrival pre- or post-European settlement, and the potential for admixture between cats of different invasion events. We analyse the genetic structure and diversity of feral cats from six locations on mainland Australia, seven Australian islands and samples from Southeast Asia and Europe using microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data. Results Our results based on phylogeographic model selection are consistent with a European origin of cats in Australia. We find genetic distinctiveness of Australian mainland samples compared with Dirk Hartog Island, Flinders Island, Tasman Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island samples, and genetic similarities between some of the island populations. Historical records suggest that introduction of cats to these islands occurred at the time of European exploration and/or in connection with the pearling, whaling and sealing trades early in the 19th century. On-going influx of domestic cats into the feral cat population is apparently causing the Australian mainland populations to be genetically differentiated from those island populations, which likely are remnants of the historically introduced cat genotypes. Conclusion A mainly European origin of feral cats in Australia, with possible secondary introductions from Asia following the initial establishment of cats in Australia is reasonable. The islands surrounding Australia may represent founding populations and are of particular interest. The results of the study provide an important timeframe for the impact of feral cats on native species in Australia. ![]() Fig. 2. Map of Australia, Southeast Asia and Europe with possible invasion routes. Possible invasion routes of cats shown on a map of Australia and Southeast Asia with Europe (EU) in the top left-hand corner. Arrows indicate invasion routes with highest support from the phylogeographic model selection approach (model 10 grey arrows; further details in Additional file 4: Figure S3). STRUCTURE plots showing ancestry (K = 4) inferred from microsatellite data for mainland Australia, Australian islands and Southeast Asia. Each individual cat is represented by a single vertical line in plots for each location. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/15/262 |
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| Inhumanum Rapax | Mar 26 2016, 10:32 AM Post #18 |
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Parabola Vita
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http://www.geocities.ws/chunniemonster/wild_cat.html This website has some awesome comparisons between domestic and European wildcat skulls Like this one. Domestic cat-left, Euro wildcat-Right.
Edited by Inhumanum Rapax, Mar 26 2016, 02:06 PM.
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| Taipan | Jan 24 2018, 07:52 PM Post #19 |
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Female cats are more likely to be right-handed, researchers discover Date: January 22, 2018 Source: Queen's University Belfast ![]() Female cat (stock image). Credit: © dionoanomalia / Fotolia Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have found that female cats are much more likely to use their right paw than males. Dr Louise McDowell, Dr Deborah Wells and Professor Peter Hepper from the School of Psychology at Queen's, recruited 44 cats for the study and found that while there was no overall population preference like the human preference for right handedness, there was a gender preference. The findings have been published in Animal Behaviour. Until now, studies on limb preference of animals have focused solely on forced experimental challenges. However, in the Queen's study, the cats -- 24 male and 20 female and all neutered -- were studied in their own homes so that information could be gathered as they went about their everyday tasks. The cat owners collected "spontaneous" data on whether the cats used their left or right paws when they stepped down the stairs or over objects and whether they slept on the left or right side of their body. A "forced" test was also carried out where the cats had to reach for food inside a three-tier feeding tower. The majority of cats showed a paw preference when reaching for food (73%), stepping down (70%) and stepping over (66%) and their preference for right and left was consistent for the majority of the tasks, both spontaneous and forced. In all cases, male cats showed a significant preference for using their left paw, while females were more inclined to use their right paw. However, when sleeping the cats did not appear to have a side preference. Dr Deborah Wells says that while there is further research needed to investigate why there is a gender preference, it could be down to hormones. She comments: "The findings point more and more strongly to underlying differences in the neural architecture of male and female animals." The Queen's University researcher also explains that the findings could help cat owners to understand how their pet deals with stress. "Beyond mere curiosity, there may be value to knowing the motor preference of one's pet. There is some suggestion that limb preference might be a useful indicator of vulnerability to stress. Ambilateral animals with no preference for one side or the other, and those that are more inclined to left-limb dominance, for example, seem more flighty and susceptible to poor welfare than those who lean more heavily towards right limb use," says Dr Wells. She adds: "We have just discovered that left-limbed dogs, for example, are more pessimistic in their outlook than right-limbed dogs. From a pet owner's perspective, it might be useful to know if an animal is left or right limb dominant, as it may help them gauge how vulnerable that individual is to stressful situations." Story Source: Queen's University Belfast. "Female cats are more likely to be right-handed, researchers discover." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180122104019.htm (accessed January 23, 2018). Journal Reference: Louise J. McDowell, Deborah L. Wells, Peter G. Hepper. Lateralization of spontaneous behaviours in the domestic cat, Felis silvestris. Animal Behaviour, 2018; 135: 37 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.11.002 Highlights • Lateralized spontaneous behaviour in the domestic cat was explored for the first time. • Cats showed a lateral bias for behaviours of stepping down and stepping over. • Animals showed no significant lateral bias for lying side. • Male cats showed a left-side bias for natural behaviours, females a right-side bias. • Natural behaviour bias and forced limb bias were positively correlated. Recent research has drawn attention to the link between lateral bias and cerebral functional asymmetry in animals. Most studies of animal laterality have focused on limb use arising from forced experimental challenges as opposed to spontaneous behaviours. This study explored, for the first time, the expression of lateralized spontaneous behaviour in the domestic cat, a species that exhibits motor bias in the form of paw preferences. The side used by 44 pet cats to perform three spontaneous behaviours (lying side, stepping down a flight of stairs, stepping over a raised object) was recorded. Paw preferences were also assessed using a more traditional forced food reaching challenge. Cats showed a significant lateral bias for food reaching, stepping down and stepping over. Those with a paw preference, however, did not differ significantly in their tendency towards left or right sidedness. The direction of the cats' side preferences was significantly correlated for most measures, whether forced or spontaneous. The strength of the cats' motor bias was significantly related to the task; animals displayed a weaker lateral bias for lying side than any other measure. The study revealed a sex split in the direction, although not the strength, of the cats' lateral bias for food reaching, stepping down and stepping over. Males showed a significant preference for using their left paw on these measures, while females were more inclined to use the right one. The study provides the first evidence that the domestic cat displays motor laterality on specific spontaneous behaviours, and that the direction, although not the strength, of these lateral biases is largely consistent with that of an experimental task. The results suggest that the more forced food-reaching test traditionally used to assess motor bias in the cat offers a biologically valid measure of limb use in this species. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347217303640?via%3Dihub |
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Domestic cat-left, Euro wildcat-Right.

Lateralization_of_spontaneous_behaviours_in_the_domestic_cat__Felis_silvestris.pdf (642.56 KB)
2:05 AM Jul 14