Not all house cats lead a pampered life but they certainly have a much easier one than wild cats. Indeed, they don’t need to go very far to find their own food, nor do they have to fight for survival in the same way. Wildcats, whether in the Scottish highlands, Czechoslovakia or the Kalahari desert, have to adjust to very different circumstances and their time budgets are therefore very different from those of a domestic cat.
First, in the wild, cats are mostly nocturnal or crepuscular animals as prey like small rodents is more readily available after sundown. They will spend hours stalking and hunting prey at night. Besides, when food availability is low, wild cats (especially big cats) can often go a long time without being able to secure food, which means that when they finally capture a prey, they will probably gorge themselves and spend longer eating to make up for the long fasting of the previous days, replenishing their energy.
Secondly, wild cats have to devote a large portion of the day marking and patrolling territory. In the process, they will have to fight other cats on a regular basis. Again, this will be take much more time than for a domestic cat.
I also believe that the time devoted to grooming and sitting around must be much less for wild cats than for domestic cats as other more vital activities take precedence.
Lastly, time budgets for wild cats could also vary according to gender. Indeed, males are generally more active than females and one can infer that males will spend more time hunting and patrolling than females. Nevertheless, things may even out when females have given birth as it is the females’ lot to care and provide food for their young. The time spent procuring food for their litter must then increase and resting time decrease.
In conclusion, we can safely say that time budgets for wild cats are allocated to their daily activities significantly differently from domestic cats, with more hours devoted to active behavior and fewer hours left for sleeping, grooming and sitting around.
References:
Marna Herbst, Behavioural Ecology and Population Genetics in the African Wildcat
Mel Sunquist and Fiona Sunquist, Wildcats of the World
Dennis Turner & Patrick Bateson, The Domestic Cat, the biology of its behaviour
First, in the wild, cats are mostly nocturnal or crepuscular animals as prey like small rodents is more readily available after sundown. They will spend hours stalking and hunting prey at night. Besides, when food availability is low, wild cats (especially big cats) can often go a long time without being able to secure food, which means that when they finally capture a prey, they will probably gorge themselves and spend longer eating to make up for the long fasting of the previous days, replenishing their energy.
Secondly, wild cats have to devote a large portion of the day marking and patrolling territory. In the process, they will have to fight other cats on a regular basis. Again, this will be take much more time than for a domestic cat.
I also believe that the time devoted to grooming and sitting around must be much less for wild cats than for domestic cats as other more vital activities take precedence.
Lastly, time budgets for wild cats could also vary according to gender. Indeed, males are generally more active than females and one can infer that males will spend more time hunting and patrolling than females. Nevertheless, things may even out when females have given birth as it is the females’ lot to care and provide food for their young. The time spent procuring food for their litter must then increase and resting time decrease.
In conclusion, we can safely say that time budgets for wild cats are allocated to their daily activities significantly differently from domestic cats, with more hours devoted to active behavior and fewer hours left for sleeping, grooming and sitting around.
References:
Marna Herbst, Behavioural Ecology and Population Genetics in the African Wildcat
Mel Sunquist and Fiona Sunquist, Wildcats of the World
Dennis Turner & Patrick Bateson, The Domestic Cat, the biology of its behaviour
