tailieunhanh - bbc wildlife magazine 2010 phần 7

Làm thế nào, cái gì, khi nào, ở đâu và lý do tại sao tất cả và tất cả mọi thứ bạn cần biết để ở trên đầu trang của thông tin hành động được thiết kế để giúp cải thiện cuộc sống của bạn, các chủ đề bao gồm thực phẩm, y tế, và lối sống. | CAT PREDATION THE FACTS Here are a few feline facts to put the Reading research into context. The most recent estimate for the number of cats in the UK is million. Just over a quarter of households have at least one cat and cat ownership is higher among people educated to degree level. The research carried out by Rebecca Thomas in Reading involved 250 cats from 210 households for four six-week periods in both 2008 and 2009. The most commonly caught prey items are listed below. Woodmice accounted for 43 per cent of all animals returned to their owners. THE TOP 10 CAT KILLS Woodmouse Brown rat Robin Blackbird Bank vole Common shrew Woodpigeon Blue tit Great tit Dunnock Robin Steve Round Poern copyright the respective owner There s no doubt that domestic cats highlight the UK s contradictory attitudes to wildlife. as lions take out lame wildebeest in the Serengeti. And consider that our native fauna evolved to live alongside Felis Silvestris the wild ancestor of the domestic cat. REDUCING PREDATION Does any of this matter No political party will ever legislate to curb cat ownership on the basis of their impact on rodents birds and frogs. And we already know some of the chief ways in which cat predation can be reduced - not allowing your cat out at night is one simple thing anyone can do. The BTO s Mike Toms says that there are probably other things too. what if we were able to position our birdfeeders or manage our gardens in such a way that we reduced the threat that cats pose to wildlife Would it be better for example to eliminate dense foliage where robins like to forage but which cats prefer for hunting You can t stop people from owning cats says Mike but you can improve the outlook for their prey. We might also think about whether we should help those species that are more vulnerable than others. House sparrows have suffered huge declines in recent decades especially in cities see News P39 . As Rebecca says I m not sure that cats are reducing