Cats in New Zealand are hunting endangered bats :(
(Credit: PxHere https://bit.ly/3QoQ8xN)
A team of zoologists from the New Zealand Department of the Environment have described two new cases of cats hunting endangered bats.
In one of them, a feral cat caught and ate a lesser short-tailed bat in the forest, and in another, a free-roaming cat wounded and killed several outgrowths near her home.
It is likely that cats prey on New Zealand bats much more often than they do much harm to their already declining populations.
Before humans settled New Zealand, terrestrial mammals were practically absent here, and their ecological niches were occupied by birds and insects.
The only exceptions were three species of bats:
- the Chalinolobus tuberculatus (the New Zealand outgrowth)
- the Mystacina tuberculata (lesser short-tailed)
- the M. robusta (lesser short-tailed)
The latter is known for the habit of hunting not in the air, but in trees and on the ground.
Like many other New Zealand endemic species, local bats have suffered greatly from humans and alien species introduced by us, primarily predatory mammals and rodents.
M. robusta most likely became extinct in the middle of the last century due to the fault of invasive rats, and two other species are endangered.
Specialists are especially concerned about the fate of the New Zealand outgrowth, whose population has declined by 84% over the past 12 years and continues to decline by 5% every year.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assigned this bat the status of a species on the verge of extinction (Critically Endangered).
THE RESEARCH
Now, a team of zoologists led by Kerry M. Borkin set out to find out how feral, stray and free-roaming cats (Felis catus) pose a serious threat to bats.
According to previous studies, domestic cats regularly prey on bats - in the UK they kill 250,000 of these mammals a year.
Cat hunting for New Zealand bats was first reported in the 1980s.
Then the owners told the scientists that their pets bring home the bats they have caught.
At the same time, it was possible to document the hunting of New Zealand cats for bats only in 2012.
Borkin and her team suggested that cat deaths in New Zealand bats often go unnoticed.
In support of this, they described two more cases of how cats kill outgrowths and lesser short-tailed.
In January 2020, while working in the Pureora Forest Park on the North Island, researchers found cat droppings near a tree.
The plant was used by a female lesser short-tailed subspecies M. t. rhyacobia to gather in the summer to produce offspring.
Later, with the help of traps, two adult feral cats, a male and a female, were caught here.
In the gastrointestinal tract of the female, scientists found at least one sheath wing.
The second case also happened in January 2020, not in a protected forest, but in a rural area on the North Island.
A local resident found three dead outgrowths near the house, and in the house itself - a wounded young individual of the same species.
The resident reported his findings to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
A specialist took the bodies of the bats for analysis, and their wounded relative for rehabilitation.
The surviving individual was released that evening near the house where it was found.
However, the next morning, the bat was found sitting in a tree with new wounds.
She was taken back to rehab, but was euthanized a few days later because the prognosis for her recovery was poor.
An analysis of the damage and the genetic material extracted from the wounds showed that all four outgrowths were victims of cats.
(Kerry M. Borkin et al. / New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2022 https://bit.ly/3deqo8y)
They were probably killed by the free-roaming cat of the owner of the house.
In February 2021, the owner of the house contacted the Ministry of the Environment again and said that he had found two more dead and one injured bat.
This time, the dead individuals were not opened for study, and their wounded relative was saved and released.
Judging by the nature of the damage, the cat attacked the bats again.
BAT-PROBLEM
Borkin’s team suggests that these cases are just the tip of the iceberg and that New Zealand cats actually kill many more bats.
Free-roaming domestic cats, whose owners live near colonies of bats, can cause especially severe damage.
They are able to reduce the breeding success of bats for several years in a row.
With 1.2 million cats living in New Zealand, of which a million are allowed to roam freely, their role in reducing bat numbers, especially in densely populated areas, could be very significant.
No easy solution seems to be available.
Source:
Interesting, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising. I have read in the past that cats in North America are the biggest threat to many species of birds, so it makes sense that they would hunt bats, too.
I'm more surprised by the fact that the M. robusta hunts on the ground. I wasn't aware that any species of bats do that. Bad news if there are cats around.
Yeah! Despite being lovely, cats are essentially predators. I remember there was a plan in Australia to erradicate them because they were killing billions animals:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/australias-cats-kill-two-billion-animals-annually-180977235/
I didn't know that about the bats either.
@kiwiscanfly - over to you...
I will ask Smudge to ask his other cat friends about this
This needs a bear hug!🐻🤗 And a resteem! Done.👍
Thanks!
Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.
