Rabbits off the menu for feral cats
Tue, 15 Nov 2016Fourteen feral cats captured in the wild have been re-released to measure their predation on native animals.
The cats wear collars that track their whereabouts and activities through video, GPS and VHF beacons as part of the NESP TSR Hub’s Integrated management of feral herbivores and feral predators (Project 1.1).
The research, led by Dr Hugh McGregor from the University of Tasmania, seeks to understand how the hunting behaviour of feral cats changes post-calicivirus
(when rabbit numbers suddenly fall), including by measuring the occurrence and impacts of pre-switching by cats.
There are long-term gains to native plants and animals resulting from the reduction in rabbit numbers through use of calicivirus (through improvements
to vegetation as well as overall reductions in the densities of foxes and cats) but there may also be at least short-term detriment to some native
animals.
“After calicivirus, the sudden scarcity of rabbit numbers could cause cats and foxes to ‘prey switch’ to native animals. In some circumstances, prey-switching
could cause the local extirpation of a population of native species. For example, we think that the loss of some populations of rock-wallabies in the
arid zone may have occurred because of prey-switching after the first calici virus release,” says Hugh.
Hugh aims to discover whether prey-switching occurs, and if so how it can be managed. He also aims to identify the threshold density of rabbits that
results in cat densities with minimal impacts on native species.
“By describing the hunting behaviour, including the kill rates and prey choice of feral cats, we can make better calculations of the impacts of prey
switching on native populations.
“We’ve been tracking the cats for a couple of months already, since July, and very early video footage is showing that the cats are hunting selectively
around rabbit warrens and preferring rabbits as prey.
“When the footage shows a cat preying on a native animal, it can be quite confronting. The native animals are clearly unused to being hunted by such
a predator.”
Image: feral farm cat, by Stavrolo
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Wineries for ringtails
Tue, 08 Oct 2019Properties in the Margaret River region have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to conserving the Critically Endangered Western Ringtail Possum. People don’t often think of possums as needing our help, but there are actually less western ringtail possums in the world than Bengal tigers.
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Indigenous action vital for Australia’s threatened species
Wed, 04 Sep 2019It is Threatened Species Day on 7 September. If you are a threatened species in Australia, chances are you are on Indigenous-managed land, as it is the last stronghold for many species which have been lost from the wider landscape .
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Native birds in South-eastern Australia worst affected by habitat loss
Tue, 03 Sep 2019New research has found that habitat loss is a major concern for hundreds of Australian bird species, and south-eastern Australia has been the worst affected. The Threatened Species Recovery Hub study found that half of all native bird species have each lost almost two-thirds of their natural habitat across Victoria, parts of South Australia and New South Wales.
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A Martu method for monitoring mankarr (greater bilby)
Tue, 20 Aug 2019Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ) Rangers in the Martu Determination have collaborated with Threatened Species Recovery Hub scientists to design a monitoring program for mankarr (the greater bilby). Martu people identified priorities for the bilby monitoring program, then worked with Dr Anja Skroblin from The University of Melbourne to co-develop a monitoring method which brings together Martu knowledge and practice with Western conservation science.
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Bradley J. Moggridge - TSR Hub Researcher Profile
Tue, 20 Aug 2019I am a proud Murri from the Kamilaroi Nation in north-west New South Wales. I grew up in western Sydney on Darug land and now live in Canberra on Ngunnawal land.
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