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The Portsmouth Dockyard authorities asked for someone to undertake a scientific study
of the cats that lived there, mainly because of health concerns. When I started the study
in October 1975, they had no idea of the size of the cat population, or of whether it was
increasing or decreasing. They only knew that many dockyard workers were feeding the cats,
while many others complained that the cats were a health hazard. After a visiting French
Naval ship allowed its ship's dog to run loose in the dockyard, they became increasingly
concerned about the risk of rabies entering the population.
At that time, the domestic cat was still considered to be a solitary animal, with the
enduring image of Kipling's "cat that walked by himself". Despite the close
association between cats and humans, little was known about the behaviour and ecology of
free-living cats - in fact, more was known about the Serengeti Lion than about the feral
cat in England.
As I studied this enclosed high-density population, I realised that the cats were
living in social groups, and that much of their behaviour paralleled that of the lion,
which was previously considered to be the only social cat.
I studied the cats by direct observation, recognising individuals
primarily by coat pattern and assigning an identification number to each (you try
thinking of that many names!). During the study, I gathered information on the following:
I used this information to consider whether or not it was necessary to manage the
population and, if so, how this might be achieved.
I published some of my results in a number of papers, but other information remains
unpublished except in my PhD thesis. This site includes a brief summary of my research,
together with PDF versions of four of my publications.
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Portsmouth Dockyard is an enclosed area, its main walls having been built in 1711 and
1864. It includes basins and docks, and has a land area of about 85 ha. It is an urban
habitat, with buildings, netted compounds, and a steam pipe system running in covered
trenches. Plant life mainly occurs as small clumps or single plants. the animal life
consists of insects such as cockroaches, birds (mainly gulls and pigeons) and mammals
(mice and rats).
The total population of cats fluctuated around 300, and of adult cats fluctuated around
190. This gives an average density of over 2 cats per hectare, which is very high in
comparison with rural populations, and suggests a favourable environment.
The cats made use of a variety of abundant cover, as shown in the photographs.
They were either fed by people, or foraged from skips and bins. I found only limited
evidence of the natural food supply being utilised. The cats were generally well-fed.
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I collected information on activity patterns during a few long periods of observation
of two groups of cats, that covered the whole 24-hour cycle, in both winter and summer.
This showed that the cats were not nocturnal, but tended to be active at dawn and dusk
(crepuscular) and when when people were active. The cats spent 76 to 84% of their time
largely inactive - comparable to the 85% recorded for the Serengeti lion by Schaller. But
the extremely low level of activity (0.9%) of one young tom shows just how inactive a cat
can be!
For detailed information, you can download the "Activity
patterns" chapter from my thesis.
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As a result of my article in the Feline Advisory Bureau Bulletin, I was contacted by
two people working in field of cat coat colour genetics. I hadn't realised it, but for
some years researchers had been "scoring" various cat populations for the
frequency of various coat colour genes, and they were desperate to get their hands on
detailed information on a sizeable colony recorded over a period of time.
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