Feline Social Behaviour
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Introduction
Cats have often been mistakenly characterised as solitary animals as a result of their depiction in popular literature, and due to the results of early studies of cat behaviour. This is a false perception that has persisted in the popular imagination. Whilst they do use distance-maintaining behaviour to avoid direct conflict with each other, the importance of social interaction in this species is clear from the presence of specific distance decreasing and affiliative behaviours.
Natural social groups are made of related female cats and juveniles, with adult males and surplus females being displaced from the group at maturity. Intact males will range over much larger territories, visiting different groups of females to mate.
Group Size
The tolerance of group size varies considerably within Felis silvestris, with some subspecies such as the Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) being almost completely solitary, and others such as the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica) being far more social and willing to live in groups. This may reflect climate differences in the locations where these subspecies evolved; in temperate and cold climates where human population density is also low, sources of food and shelter may be more sparse and subject to greater competition.
Observational studies by authors such as Leyhausen (1965) year does not correspond[1], Laundre (1977)[2] and Fagen (1978)[3] expanded knowledge of the social communication and organisation of cats, and revealed their capacity for group living. The work of authors such as Dards (1978[4], 1981[5], 1983[6]), who studied dockyard cats in the UK, and Denny et al. (2002)[7] have identified a now well recognised functional template for domestic cat organisation in which related female cats form social groups along with their offspring and juvenile cats. The function of the groups is to aid in successful kitten rearing. Males are loosely associated with these groups of females and roam a much larger territory that encompasses the home ranges of several groups of females.
These groups of females form in areas where food and shelter resources are abundant, but group members still continue to act independently of one another. Unlike some species in which females are hostile to the offspring of conspecifics, nursing queens seem to show little discrimination when caregiving to kittens; they will feed and groom any kitten that approaches them[8]. This adaptation provides the basis for the formation of female social groups, as it enables kittens to be protected and cared for by members of the group whilst others are hunting. Even so, the only sharing of food between cats is between mothers and their kittens; meals are not shared between adult females.
Social Group Formation
Until they are completely weaned and able to catch and kill their own prey, kittens are not a source of competition for resources with adult cats, because their nutritional requirements are met by the mother. Once young cats become fully independent, they do become potential competitors for food and shelter resources. If these are not sufficiently abundant then females may leave the group.
Whilst there are situations in which resources naturally occur in high density, human settlements appear to be a significant driving force behind the formation of more permanent feline groups[9]. Where people are absent, and locations of high resource density are therefore absent, cats favour a solitary lifestyle other than when they are raising kittens[10].
Social Behaviour
Aggression is seen between females that are not members of the same social group, as there is competition between groups for access to food and shelter. However, juvenile cats are more receptive to social contact with unfamiliar individuals, which may favour the formation of new groups by young adult cats.
When cats rub against each other and groom each other they transfer scent to create a common group odour. In wild or feral cat groups, individuals may already share strong odour similarities since in most cases groups are composed of related females. Allorubbing and allogrooming of this kind are essential to social bonding but do not contribute to self-maintenance; cats can groom themselves successfully without assistance form others.
Male cats generally do not tolerate contact with each other, and will compete strongly for control over access to an area that encompasses the home ranges of groups, or individual, female cats. However, some authors report that well-matched males sharing a neighbourhood will occasionally stop fighting and form loose social relationships that are termed “brotherhoods”[1].
Neutering has an effect on the social behaviour of male cats, reducing their territory size and the level of inter-male conflict. This is observed in large suburban cat colonies in which neutered males participate equally with females.
Social Structure
Groups can contain several types of individuals and sub-groups:
Cliques or Factions: groups or 3 or more cats that show greeting and other affiliative behaviour towards each other, but may be aggressive to other members of the domestic group.
Pairs: Pairs of cats, often littermates, that greet and show affiliative behaviour towards each other.
Social facilitators: These cats will often offer and receive greetings and affiliative behaviour with cats from several factions or cliques. They may also associate with other cats outside the group and serve to maintain group odour between individuals and sub-groups that rarely interact directly with each other.
Satellite individuals: These offer and receive little or no greeting or affiliative behaviour with the other cats in the home. They may be involved in minor or passive aggressive incidents with other cats in the group, often as the recipient of threat.
Despots: These individuals may deliberately monopolise resources and create opportunities to intimidate other cats in, and outside the home.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Leyhausen, P. (1988) The tame and the wild- another Just-So-Story? In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.). The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behavior., Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Laundre, J. (1977) The daytime behaviour of domestic cats in a free-roaming population. Animal Behaviour. 25, 990-998.
- ↑ Fagen, R. M. (1978) Population structure and social behavior in the domestic cat (Felis catus). Carnivore Genetics Newsletter 3(8): 276-281.
- ↑ Dards, J. L. (1978) Home ranges of feral cats in Portsmouth. Carnivore Genetics Newsletter. 3(7), 242-255.
- ↑ Dards, J. L. (1981) Habitat utilization by feral cats in Portsmouth dockyard. Pp. 30-49 In: The Ecology and Control of Feral Cats. Potters Bar: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare.
- ↑ Dards, J. L. (1983) The behaviour of dockyard cats: interactions of adult males. Applied Animal Ethology. 10, 133-153.
- ↑ Denny, E., Yakovlevich, P., Eldridge, M.D.B., Dickman, D. (2002) Social and genetic analysis of a population of free-living cats (Felis catus L.) exploiting a resource-rich habitat. Wildlife Research. 45(4), 405-413.
- ↑ Ohkawa, N. and T. Hidaka. 1987. Communal nursing in the domestic cat, Felis catus. Journal of Ethology 5(2): 173-183.
- ↑ Kerby, G. & McDonald, D.W. (1988) Cat society and the consequences of colony size. In: D. C. Turner and P. Bateson (eds.). The Domestic Cat: the biology of its behavior., Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ van Aarde, R. J. (1978) Reproduction and population ecology in the house cat, Felis catus, on Marion Island. Carnivore Genetics Newsletter. 3(8), 288-316.
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