Posted: August 17, 2012
The
hidden lives of cats – where they go, what they do and who they meet
day to day – are revealed in a new study that used tiny cameras to
record their every move.
Photo by: Courtesy of Kerrie Anne Loyd
Photo by: Courtesy of Kerrie Anne Loyd
Arizona State University wildlife ecologist Kerrie Anne Loyd reveals the hidden lives
of cats through a study – of which she was lead author – that placed
tiny cameras developed by National Geographic on the collars of 55 cats
in Athens, Ga., to see what they would do and where they would go.
"They gathered thousands of hours of tape as the cats roamed their
suburban neighborhoods," said Melissa Block, host of NPR's "All Things
Considered," who talked with Loyd about the research.
Loyd, who teaches biology and ecology at ASU
Colleges at Lake Havasu, said she and her team of researchers were
surprised by the findings.
Her team – and the owners of the cats – were shocked to see that
quite a few of the cats visited other homes and were "being pet by
another family, eating there, basically cheating on their original
owners," Loyd said.
Another surprising finding for the team was that 44 percent of the
cats exhibited hunting behavior, and even fewer, 30 percent,
successfully captured animals. Some of the cats, Loyd said, "regularly
sat under bird feeders stalking birds, but they didn't capture any. …
Many of them did a lot of lounging, just sitting on the porch, waiting
for their owners to come home.
"There were quite a few that did a lot of exploring of the neighborhoods."
Seeing cats crossing roads and going down into storm drains was not uncommon, Loyd said.
She added: "Cats are fascinating animals."
Article source:
NPR
NPR
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