Timing of Feline Activity

Timing of activity Cats follow a strict timetable to movement around their territory in order to avoid contact with each other, taking full advantage of the chemical signals deposited by other cats. Cats are now commonly described as crepuscular, and this has been confirmed in radio-telemetry studies (Konecny, 1987). This is also implied by the structure and function of the cat’s eye, which has a number of adaptations that improve its function in low light conditions. However, cats have previously been described as nocturnal and diurnal, based on findings from different studies. Under laboratory conditions in isolation from human contact, cats showed random patterns of activity in continuous light, and free-running circadian rhythms in constant darkness (Randall et al., 1985). Food intake was stimulated by simulated starlight and the presence of people. There was also a significant level of idiosyncratic variation in entrainment to different light-dark cycles, indicating that some individuals were more capable than others of adapting to different day length.

The activity of domestic cats is also significantly influenced by human activity. In conditions that more closely resemble a normal domestic environment, cats that were more closely involved with their owners showed greater levels of activity during daylight (Piccione et al., 2012). Given that man-made lighting, including light pollution, maintains the outdoor environment in towns and cities at a constant level of illumination that resembles the crepuscular period, many cats are exposed to a distorted photoperiod that does not favour proper entrainment and is likely to favour more idiosyncratic patterns of behaviour. For a large number of generations domestic cats have been exposed to a different set of selection pressures related to photoperiodicity of behaviour and the availability of prey, such that entrainment would have a much lower survival value.

Key points: • Cats often adapt their activity patterns to the presence of humans. • However, experimentally cats show variation in activity pattern and ability to adapt to light conditions, which may be why some individuals exhibit problematic nocturnal activity.