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→Motivation to Hunt
==Motivation to Hunt==
==Motivation to Hunt==
The motivation to hunt, or at least engage with potential prey, is '''separate from hunger'''. <font color="red">Adamec (1976)<ref>Adamec, R.E. (1976) The interaction of hunger and preying in the domestic cat (Felis catus): an adaptive hierarchy?, ''Behav Biol.'' Oct;18(2):263-72.</ref> showed that cats will stop feeding in order to catch and kill a live rat that was introduced to the environment. They would then move the dead prey close to the feeding area and return to eating the meal. Despite having killed the rat, cats showed almost no interest in eating it. The indication is that predatory behaviour is activated by stimuli, such as odour, prey size and movement, that are unrelated to stimuli connected with feeding or hunger.
The motivation to hunt, or at least engage with potential prey, is '''separate from hunger'''. Adamec (1976)<ref>Adamec, R.E. (1976) The interaction of hunger and preying in the domestic cat (Felis catus): an adaptive hierarchy?, ''Behav Biol.'' Oct;18(2):263-72.</ref> showed that cats will stop feeding in order to catch and kill a live rat that was introduced to the environment. They would then move the dead prey close to the feeding area and return to eating the meal. Despite having killed the rat, cats showed almost no interest in eating it. The indication is that predatory behaviour is activated by stimuli, such as odour, prey size and movement, that are unrelated to stimuli connected with feeding or hunger.
The amount of time spent searching for food and hunting does vary between pet and feral cats, with feral cats spending twice as much time per day (12 vs. 6 hours) <ref name="Turner">Turner, D. C. Meister, O. (1988) Hunting behaviour of the domestic cat. In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.), ''The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behaviour''. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.</ref>
The amount of time spent searching for food and hunting does vary between pet and feral cats, with feral cats spending twice as much time per day (12 vs. 6 hours) <ref name="Turner">Turner, D. C. Meister, O. (1988) Hunting behaviour of the domestic cat. In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.), ''The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behaviour''. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.</ref>