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Cape Town's Cats Cape Town’s Cats: Reassessing predation through kitty-cams Frances Morling Project Supervisors: Dr Robert E. Simmons & Prof M. Justin O’Riain University of Cape Town A thesis submitted to the University of Cape Town in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters degree in Conservation Biology Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology University of Cape Town Rondebosch 7701 Cape Town February 2014 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Cover photo: Frances Morling 1 Plagiarism Declaration I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my original work carried out in the Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town. It has not previously in its entirety or in part been submitted to any University. Any other sources of information are fully acknowledged. .................................. Frances Morling .................................. Date 2 Acknowledgements Thank you very much to the National Research Foundation (NRF) for funding this project through Dr Rob Simmons. I would like to thank my supervisors for their support, encouragement and guidance throughout the project and for providing valuable input on the various drafts of this thesis. I would like to thank the following people who volunteered their cats for the study; Margie Thomas, Karen Cairns, Anchen Sass, Stephen Whitehead, Karen Gloor, Bernice Snaith, Marion Steenkamp, Zelda and Rory McCance-Price, Verity Hoff, Felicity Lotter, Pug and Margie Worthington-Smith, Teresa Thomson, Caroline Sedgwick. Thank you so much for all of the effort you put in. Thank you also for your never-ending patience in the face of the many technical difficulties. Thank you to my Conservation Biology Masters class – you guys are the best. I wouldn’t have been able to get through this year without you! Thank you also to my tireless volunteers Christian Setzer, Dunyiswa Lumko, Gabrielle Leighton, Hana Petersen, Kristen Barnes, Megan Mehnert and Tshegofatso Pelego. I really appreciate you all giving up your holiday to help me with footage analysis. I am also very grateful to my partner, Samuel Stephens, for accompanying me on my door-to-door surveys, reading through my drafts and for his support. Thank you also to my family for their support, company for door-to-door surveys and help with testing the collars, harnesses and equipment for the study. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ 11 2. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 12 2.1. Felis catus – an introduction ..................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1. Domestication of the cat ................................................................................................... 12 2.2. Why introduced cats can be problematic: ................................................................................. 13 2.2.1. Exceeding carrying capacity ............................................................................................. 13 2.2.2. Declines and extinctions of native fauna due to cats ........................................................ 14 2.2.2.1. Island fauna ................................................................................................................... 14 2.2.2.2. Continental fauna .......................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3. Predation estimates ........................................................................................................... 15 2.2.4. Is predation by domestic cats a problem for prey populations? ........................................ 15 2.2.5. Additive or compensatory predation by cats ..................................................................... 16 2.2.6. Other negative effects of cats ............................................................................................ 17 2.2.7. Beneficial effects of domestic cats .................................................................................... 17 2.3. Control and management of domestic cats ............................................................................... 18 2.3.1. Management of domestic cats ........................................................................................... 18 2.3.2. Legislation ......................................................................................................................... 21 2.3.3. Conversion/correction rate to predation estimates ............................................................ 22 2.4. This study .................................................................................................................................. 23 2.4.1. Study area .......................................................................................................................... 24 2.4.2. Hypothesis ......................................................................................................................... 24 2.4.3. Aims .................................................................................................................................. 24 3. METHODS ................................................................................................................................. 24 3.1. Study site ................................................................................................................................... 24 3.2. Study design .............................................................................................................................. 25 3.2.1. Population size and density estimates of domestic cats .................................................... 26 3.2.2. Choice of domestic cats .................................................................................................... 26 3.1.1. Equipment ......................................................................................................................... 27 3.1.2. Study protocol ................................................................................................................... 29 3.2. Data analyses ............................................................................................................................ 32 3.2.1. Prey type and prey rates .................................................................................................... 32 3.2.2. Questionnaire .................................................................................................................... 32 3.2.3. Video analysis ................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.4. Prey capture correction factor and overall predation estimate .......................................... 35 4. RESULTS.................................................................................................................................... 36 4.1. Domestic cat density ................................................................................................................. 36 4.2. Study cats .................................................................................................................................. 36 4.3. Prey brought home - questionnaires .......................................................................................... 37 4.3.1. Experimental vs. baseline stage predation ........................................................................ 37 4 4.3.2. Prey composition............................................................................................................... 38 4.3.3. Predation rates ................................................................................................................... 42 4.3.4. Average predation in Cape Town ..................................................................................... 42 4.4. Behaviour and habitat use by cats with kitty-cams ................................................................... 43 4.4.1. Predation success .............................................................................................................. 43 4.4.2. Prey composition from kitty-cam footage......................................................................... 44 4.4.3. Predation rates from kitty-cam footage ............................................................................. 45 4.4.4. Fate of prey captured, and correction factors .................................................................... 45 4.5. Re-assessing the overall predation impact of Cape Town’s domestic cats ............................... 48 4.6. Activity budgets and habitat use ............................................................................................... 50 4.6.1. Day vs. night ..................................................................................................................... 50 4.6.2. Deep-urban vs. Urban-edge .............................................................................................. 52 5.
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