{"id":7814,"date":"2022-04-27T20:04:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T12:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=7814"},"modified":"2022-04-27T20:04:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T12:04:13","slug":"home-sweet-home-pet-cats-rarely-stray-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/home-sweet-home-pet-cats-rarely-stray-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Home sweet home: Pet cats rarely stray far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The domestic cat is one of our most popular pets. In Norway alone, 5.4 million people own approximately 770,000 cats. But where do our four-legged friends go? The cat wants to go outside, you open the door, it leaves and disappears. After a while it returns, but where was it in the meantime?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers and master’s students at NMBU, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, are shedding some light on the feline mystery. They have GPS-marked almost 100 pet cats in a small town in Eastern Norway and tracked the cats when they were outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal was to map the movements of \u00a0an entire population of pet cats within the same area,\u201d says NMBU-professor Richard Bischof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cat owners all lived within about one square kilometer, which gave the researchers a very detailed insight into many cats’ activities within a limited area. The high number of cats within such a small area makes this cat tracking study unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your neighbor\u2019s garden<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The results from this small Norwegian town corresponds with similar research from other European countries: the answer to the cat mystery lies significantly closer to home than the owners probably expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cats spent an average of 79% of their time outdoors within 50 meters of the owner’s home. The average maximum distance for all cats was 352 meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome individuals traveled relatively far, sometimes several kilometers, but those were the exceptions,\u201d says Bischof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most cats are literally just around the corner when they are outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “catscape”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs far as we know, no one has ever tracked that many cats in one small area. This made it possible for us to show what a domestic cat population looks like in time and space,\u201d Bischof says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tend to think of animal populations as a collection of individuals or a single number,\u201d Bischof continues. \u201cInstead, I prefer to see them as surfaces that envelop and interact with the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bischof also points out that most cat owners probably do not think of their cat as a member of a larger animal population. But they are clearly part of what the researchers called the \u201ccatscape\u201d in their article. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe catscape is the combined intensity with which an area is used by all cats living there, and we were able to create a map of it using GPS data,\u201d Bischof says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large differences between individuals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The results showed that there was great variation between the individual cats in how they used the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is quite typical,\u201d says Bjarne O. Braastad, professor emeritus of ethology at NMBU. \u201cCats have different personalities, and research results reflect this: there is often great variation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He goes on explaining that the cats probably spend a lot of time near the home in their own garden to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is also worth noting that almost all the cats were neutered,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt will of course play an important role. Neutered cats are less likely to roam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student participation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How the animals use the landscape also dictates how they interact with the environment. And cats definitely have some effects on their natural surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn interesting topic for further studies is of course the effects on local wildlife,\u201d says project manager and professor Torbj\u00f8rn Haugaasen. \u201cWe did not have the opportunity to include it in this project period, but in the future we would like to take a closer look at that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A large part of the project has been carried out by NMBU’s master’s students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been a good combination of research and education,\u201d says Haugaasen. \u201cThe students have gained a lot of practical experience with applied science, and also been co-authors of the scientific article.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular project<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the study has so far been focused on eastern Norway, rumors spread, and the project received inquiries from across the country to join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are obviously very curious about what their cat does when it is out and about. Interest has been really high,\u201d says Haugaasen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the data collection and data analysis was complete, the cat owners gained access to digital maps where they could see where their pet had been. The researchers conclude by pointing out how important the cat owners’ help has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could not have done this without them. As an added bonus, we had the opportunity to include many families with children in our research. Maybe we have inspired some budding scientists?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The domestic cat is one of our most popular pets. In Norway alone, 5.4 million people own approximately 770,000 cats. But where do our four-legged friends go? The cat wants to go outside, you open the door, it leaves and disappears. After a while it returns, but where was it in the meantime? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2432],"tags":[1152,284,1088,2248,283],"class_list":["post-7814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","tag-pet-care","tag-pet-grooming","tag-pet-health","tag-pet-training","tag-pets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7816,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7814\/revisions\/7816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}