cats and also WTNT in NE Tasmania

By Birding-Aus, on March 9th, 2015

Hello all There appears to be a concerted effort by some out there to convince the public that Northern (tropical) feral cats are no different and have been on mainland Australia, no longer than any of the others feral cats that we see roaming the bush across the rest of the land. In my experience, that does not seem correct and is probably wrong. The theory that northern tropical feral cats were introduced by early Makassar sailors to me seems not only plausible, but likely. Having had a lifelong interest in wildlife and and during the 90’s mapped most of the ancient Makassar trepang (Sea Cucumbers, Holothurians) camps located along the coast from Darwin to Boome, I observed that most feral cats in remote coastal areas away from towns are similar if not identical in appearance to a typical Timor/Makassar tabby type. Furthermore, compared to the larger type feral cats of inland Australia, the behaviour and habits of the feral cats inhabiting remote coastal tropical areas are more cryptic and, notwithstanding the heavier vegetation cover of their habitat, much more difficult to locate compared to their inland cousins. Tropical feral cats have a much more uniform appearance, seem smaller and are distinctively different compared to feral cats of inland Australia. Of course, there is an obviuos influence of more typical house cat type ferals as one moved closer to established human communities. The absence of cats found at ancient Makassar archaeological sites across northern Australian coast is not surprising. This does not diminish the possibility/probability that cats were introduced to northern Australia many years, probably more than 400+ years before European settlement by Makassar or even earlier, by Madagascan sailors. How many dead cats would one really expect to see at any archaeological site in northern Australia including European sites? It has been stated there are no cats to be seen in ancient aboriginal art. However, for all its unique cultural significance, Aboriginal art is not the most reliable form of natural history recording. In some of the remotest parts of the Kimberley coast there are what is known as Bradshaw style (Gyorn Gyorn) paintings( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradshaw_rock_paintings ) among many other things, showing what appear to be Madagascan type sailors wearing trouser tassels and representing other characteristic artefacts’ some including animals and sailing boats. The fact that the Bradshaw paintings precedes aboriginal art and have been painted over by ancient Wanjana aboriginal paintings; themselves known to be hundreds of years older than first known European visits to the mainland has become controversial. Bradshaw paintings could be 60000 years old but, to discuss this topic is considered in some circles to be politically incorrect, just like the discussion around the likelihood that feral cats have probably been on mainland Australia for a long time, at least many hundreds of years too. This likely theory clearly disturbs many cat haters. It appears that, notwithstanding the predation of an occasional night parrot, it is difficult for a cat hater to argue or acknowledge that much of the damage that can be caused by feral cats has probably already been done and that the natural environment is most likely now accommodating an uncomfortable balance; and that the impacts from feral cats are now more likely determined from population fluctuations due to varying but natural seasonal conditions. This is not to say that we should not be doing everything possi9ble to protect vulnerable species of native wildlife from the direct impact of predators, both native and feral. Obviously to protect some vulnerable rare species, predator control measures are imperative however the problem of feral cats needs to be kept in perspective and unless voices of reason are heard regarding this problem, there is every likelihood that a broad scale attack on feral cats will not only be ineffective and hideously expensive, but more than likely will do more damage than good. regards Ian May St Helens, Tasmania PS Yesterday, across this locality in NE Tasmania, we experienced a two hour flyover of Spine-tailed Swifts (WTNT) from 0830. After 0930, I drove about the district from Dianna Basin to Priory and from St Helens Point and Stieglitz to Binalong Bay to confirm that it was happening all across the broad area. Throughout this time, there were between 1 and 5 birds in any field of view, rarely any period when birds were not evident, their general movement was inland. Impossible to estimate numbers but must have been many hundreds, or possibly a thousand + birds. Earlier in the morning, we watched the slow offshore movement of a dense rain bearing low pressure tough moving offshore from St Helens point. The front was carrying many hundreds of Albatross and Petrels. ———————————————————————— Eric.Vanderduys@csiro.au wrote: >Hi Michael, > >I believe there is no support for the hypothesis that cats were established in Australia prior to European settlement. There’s been a paper or two on this from a few years back but I’ll have to dig it/them out when I get back to the office. From memory the evidence was based on time frames of invasion, and old reports, ship records, etc. There may have been something genetic in there too, but I can’t really remember. I do remember being satisfied that the researcher(s) had been thorough, and they convinced me. > >It’s a bit of a longstanding myth, and I certainly believed it based on the appearances of some cats I’d seen in N. Aust. If you or anyone else on the list has recent papers supporting the alternative hypothesis, of multiple introductions including prior to European settlement, I’d love to see them, because it’s something I like to keep up with. > >And without really wanting to cause a stir, I think it’s a bit like the myth of the large outback moggie, fed a high-protein diet (as opposed to?). My former boss did some work on cats and from memory the average size was under 4 kg (n = a 100 or so from memory). There are large Felis catus (to avoid the term “big cats”) out there, but I’ve seen hundreds of cats that I would put in the 2 – 4 kg guesstimate and about three that were big, maybe > 5 kg. > >Again, I’ll dig out the figures when I get back to the office. > >Regards, > >Eric > > > >>On 3 Mar 2015, at 7:19 pm, “Michael Hunter” <drmhunter@westnet.com.au> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >>Hi All. >> >> Cats have been a major issue for Australian Wildlife for centuries, and they have modified the distribution and survival of birds and animals since first introduced, from Indonesia by the Makassar’s and later by Europeans. Apparently the Northwest half of Oz has genetically Indonesian type cats, the Southeast are European, for what that is worth. >> >> Controlling them will take a lot of research and labour, but once effective control methods are invented, distributing those controls would be worthwhile. It cost $25 million to control rabbits on Macquarie Island, what price Night Parrot ad other ground or termite mound nesters and what are left of our small mammals >> >> The novel spray-on poison for fastidious felines noted by Charles in a recent post is very interesting. Just how you would get the pussies to pass the spraying machine is another matter. >> >> I imagine that pheromones, odours derived from mating female cats, could be isolated, concentrated and spread around to attract males from far and wide, and possibly territorial females, would be effective. >> >> We had a cat problem which was solved by trapping in a possum trap baited with “Snappy Tom” canned cat food, and the miscreants humanely and painlessly disposed of via the local vet. Feral cats are said to be extremely indisposed to entering metal traps. Research into overcoming that problem (larger traps sprayed with pheromones and completely devoid of human odour) should work at least some of the time. >> >> How about Feline Distemper? Hunting dogs in restricted areas? >> >> Research into the territorial areas of feral cats is a must, maybe it has already been done. >> >> Some of you guys with a lot more time than me might surf the net for answers? >> >> Cheers >> >> Michael >> >>

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birding

March 11, 2015 at 7:04 pm

March 11, 2015 at 4:25 pm

Thank you Peter. Interesting discussion for me and also Colins paper is very interesting reading and cannot argue his processes. Eric Vanderduys sent me some papers also of interest. I will post a reply on birding aus soon regards Ian ———————————————————————— Peter Shute wrote:

meathead.clark5

March 10, 2015 at 5:36 pm

Linguistic evidence is also against the pre-European introduction of cats with Aboriginal words like ‘walikatja’ for wild cat and ‘pudikatja’ for pussy cat. Aboriginal people swiftly incorporated cats into their diet but, as I stated previously, there is no archaeological evidence of pre-European consumption of cats. Cheers David Sent from my iPhone

peter

March 10, 2015 at 11:37 am

Ian, have you read the paper linked to by Colin Trainor earlier? http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/about/science/cswa/articles/23.pdf The author hypothesises the spread of cats by using reports of cats mentioned in old diaries, etc. He says there were none feral before 1820. Perhaps it’s possible that the Timor/Makassar type of cat that you mentioned is more prevalent in the north, but weren’t introduced any earlier than the southern types. He suggests that their spread may have been aided by the spread of rabbits, which would mean that older populations might not have spread until more recently. Peter Shute

carlsclifford

March 10, 2015 at 11:24 am

Do any feral cats in the top end have bobbed or deformed tails? Bob or deformed tails are very common in Asian domestic cats, and the gene in Australian ferals would be a good indicator of cats being brought in from Asia. Carl Clifford

goodfellow

March 10, 2015 at 10:32 am

Ian, if cats have been here in the Top End for hundreds of years as you suggest it may well be that changes in fire regime have exacerbated the problem by opening up the under storey. But then if they had been around for so long it seems strange that my Iwadja, Kunwinjku and other relatives have never mentioned them. Still, they may have entered Australia through other sources, and in other areas. So let’s look at alternative, possible connections. Machado-Joseph Disease is an inherited and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. The world’s highest known incidence of the disease occurs in the Indigenous people of Groote Eylandt and Yirrkala in the Northern Territory (two of my daughters-daughters-in-law are dying of the disease). Until recently it was thought that the disease had a Portuguese origin the prevailing theory being that it was passed on to Indigenous populations in Australia by Macassan traders who came to Australia as early as the 16th century. However, the strain that Indigenous people here suffer from is related to strains from Japan, India and Taiwan, and has a common ancestor, “dating back 7000 years,” . Thus the disease may have arrived with the most recent waves of indigenous people into the Top End (if I remember correctly this was in the NE Arnhem Land region). These people appear to have brought dingoes (as did,, possibly, earlier waves). Did they also bring cats? They might have but I can’t for the life of me see what use cats would be to hunter-gatherers. Was there a trading link between Japan, India or Taiwan? Again I don’t know. I’d be interested in what others think. By the way I’m not a “cat-hater”. I feel about them in much the same way I think about certain people who behave badly – I simply hate what they do. Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow PO Box 71 Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841 PhD candidate, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW. Founding Member: Ecotourism Australia Nominated by Earthfoot for Condé Nast’s International Ecotourism Award, 2004. 043 8650 835 With every introduction of a plant or animal that goes feral this continent becomes a little less unique, a little less Australian. On 9 Mar 2015, at 3:50 pm, Ian May < birding@ozemail.com.au> wrote:

Birding-Aus

cats and also WTNT in NE Tasmania

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