Social, Feeding and Predatory Behaviour 43
This raises the question as to whether aggregations of feral cats are evidence of
social bonding or just gatherings of otherwise solitary animals around a plentiful
food source; this is something that is often seen in the wild and among feral or
free-ranging domestic animals where members of different species that would nor-
mally regard each other as prey or predator will eat or drink close to each other,
especially if the resource is of high value or otherwise limited. But observations of
friendly interactions between feral cats found in groups indicate that many are
socially bonded and not just attracted to the same location by a food source (Kerby
and Macdonald, 1988; Crowell-Davis et al., 2004).
The availability of shelter and suitable nesting sites is another relevant factor that
might explain why colonies of feral cats are more likely to exist in areas such as farms
and industrial sites where barns, warehouses and disused buildings can provide ideal
accommodation.
The size of a feral cat colony can vary greatly from fewer than ten to more than
50 members, although larger colonies are more likely to be made up of smaller social
groups. These colonies consist mainly of related females and their offspring, including
sexually immature and some young adult males. Other than when mating, contact
with cats who are not part of the same group is avoided and members of the group
are hostile to outsiders who may try to invade the territory or pose a threat to
resources (Kerby and Macdonald, 1988; Bradshaw et al., 2012).
What is the advantage of social grouping?
Because cats are self-reliant hunters, individual survival is not dependent on group
co-operation. But being in a group, where there is a collective effort to defend
resources, can be advantageous for a breeding female and her kittens. It has also been
observed that group-living females help each other with the birth, care and feeding of
each other’s litters (Allaby and Crawford, 1982; Macdonald et al., 1987), a behaviour
that is also seen in owned breeding queens, especially related females. A disadvantage
of living with others, however, can be an increased risk of disease. Group-living feral
cats have been shown to have a far higher pathogen prevalence than household
domestic cats (Macdonald et al., 2000).
Mature males
Once they reach sexual maturity most males will leave their mother’s home range to
lead a more solitary existence. Sexually mature entire males will either avoid each
other or fight whenever they meet, especially when there is a female in oestrus nearby
(Dards, 1983). However, males that are littermates or have been raised within the
same colony have been seen to form coalitions or ‘brotherhoods’, demonstrating ami-
cable greeting behaviours, and even patiently ‘waiting their turn’ to alternately copu-
late with an in-oestrus female (Allaby and Crawford, 1982; Liberg and Sandell, 1988;
Macdonald et al., 2000; Crowell-Davis et al., 2004). It is possible, however, that this
only happens with juvenile males and that aggression is the more likely result of
encounters between more mature males (Dards, 1983; Bradshaw et al., 2012).