Anyone who lives with a cat understands their predilection for hunting and stalking.
They dart through your legs as you navigate a hallway. Feet beneath a blanket are seen as an immediate threat that must be neutralized. They’ll pounce two-thirds of the way up a screen door to maul a moth.
Recent research proves cats are proficient killing machines.
A study from National Geographic and the University of Georgia came to their findings after strapping small cameras to indoor/outdoor cats and reviewing the recordings.
The 55 cats tracked averaged two kills per week each. Lizards and voles were the most common targets during the nearly 2,000 hours of footage. Often the cats killed for pleasure and left their prey behind.
The study also tracked risky behavior. Almost half risked injury while crossing the street, while a quarter encountered other aggressive cats. One out of every four ate or drank something a way from home, the report found. The animals explored crawl spaces, storm drains and other areas where they could potentially become trapped. Free-roaming cats often lead double-lives, stopping at other homes for food or affection.
“A lot of cats were found cheating on their owners,” said Professor Sonia Hernandez, who conceived the idea for the study. “In that they were spending a lot of time with other families, and were fed by other families and slept on the beds of other families.”
Keeping a cat indoors reduces their risk of contracting an illness or being hurt.
One final (perhaps wholly unsurprising) find for anyone who owns a cat: The felines spent the majority of their time outdoors sleeping.