Feral cats, the scourge of endangered species ... - The World

An international team led by researchers from the National Research Council (CSIC) has examined the role of feral cats in the context of the biodiversity crisis faced by islands and has determined that these invaders have contributed to extinction of at least 33 species of endemic vertebrates. The results, published in the journal BioScience , which collected 13 species are critically endangered in 12 islands small size.

Researchers have identified those islands where there is a high probability that the next befall extinctions caused by this species invasive. This could not have taken into account data on food, impacts on the conservation of endangered species and the experience of eradication campaigns already made. According to these results, two reptiles, nine birds and two mammals are critically endangered according to the documentation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“The data we have obtained can be useful when commit scarce funds available to conservation agencies, at national or international level, while prioritize eradication of feral cats , and other invasive species, in a global context, “says Manuel Nogales, CSIC researcher at the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology, located in Tenerife.

introduction of invasive species, particularly mammalian predators, is one of the main factors contributing to extinction on islands. Since the domestication of the African wildcat approximately 9,000 years, man has widely dispersed the domestic cat, which has established feral populations on islands around the world, even in the most remote archipelagos.

Seven of the 12 islands that are home vertebrate species critically endangered are in the Pacific Ocean: Alejandro Selkirk (Chile), Guadalupe (Baja California), Floreana (Galapagos Islands), Socorro ( Revillagigedo Islands), Fatu Hiva (French Polynesia), Robinson Crusoe (Chile) and San Lorenzo Sur (Baja California), three of them in the Caribbean: Pine Cay (Caicos Islands), Little Cayman (Cayman Islands), and Anegada (British Virgin Islands), an Indian, Amsterdam (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one in the Mediterranean (Baja California). All have a lower extension to 290 square kilometers and its population exceeds 900 inhabitants.