Mammals comprise the bulk of the diet of free-ranging domestic cats Felis catus (defined as including outdoor pet cats, strays, and feral cats) in most parts of their global range. In Australia, predation by introduced feral cats has been implicated in the extinction of many mammal species, and in the ongoing decline of many extant species. Here, we collate a wide range of records of predation by cats (including feral and pet cats) on Australian mammals and model traits of extant, terrestrial, native mammal species associated with the relative likelihood of cat predation. We explicitly seek to overcome biases in such a continental-scale compilation by excluding possible carrion records for larger species and accounting for differences in the distribution and abundance of potential prey species, as well as study effort, throughout each species’ range. For non-volant species, the relative likelihood of predation by cats was greatest for species in an intermediate weight range (peaking at ca. 400 g), in lower rainfall areas and not dwelling in rocky habitats. Previous studies have shown the greatest rates of decline and extinction in Australian mammals to be associated with these traits. As such, we provide the first continental-scale link between mammal decline and cat predation through quantitative analysis. Our compilation of cat predation records for most extant, terrestrial, native mammal species (151 species, or 52% of the Australian species’ complement) is substantially greater than previously reported (88 species) and includes 50 species listed as threatened by the IUCN or under Australian legislation (57% of Australia's 87 threatened terrestrial mammal species). We identify the Australian mammal species most likely to be threatened by predation by cats (mulgaras Dasycercus spp., kowari Dasyuroides byrnei, many smaller dasyurids and medium-sized to large rodents, among others) and hence most likely to benefit from enhanced mitigation of cat impacts, such as translocations to predator-free islands, the establishment of predator-proof fenced exclosures, and broad-scale cat poison baiting.

中文翻译：

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引入猫 Felis catus 吃大陆动物：澳大利亚哺乳动物物种的清单和特征被杀

在全球范围的大部分地区，哺乳动物构成了自由放养的家猫 Felis catus（定义为包括户外宠物猫、流浪猫和野猫）的大部分饮食。在澳大利亚，外来野猫的捕食与许多哺乳动物物种的灭绝以及许多现存物种的持续减少有关。在这里，我们整理了广泛的猫（包括野猫和宠物猫）对澳大利亚哺乳动物的捕食记录，以及与猫捕食的相对可能性相关的现存、陆地、本地哺乳动物物种的模型特征。我们明确地寻求通过排除较大物种可能的腐肉记录并考虑潜在猎物物种的分布和丰度的差异以及研究工作来克服这种大陆规模汇编中的偏见，在每个物种的范围内。对于非流动物种，猫捕食的相对可能性在中等重量范围内（峰值约为 400 克）、降雨量较少的地区和不居住在岩石栖息地中的物种最大。先前的研究表明，澳大利亚哺乳动物的衰退和灭绝速度最快与这些特征有关。因此，我们通过定量分析提供了哺乳动物衰退和猫捕食之间的第一个大陆尺度联系。我们对大多数现存、陆生、本地哺乳动物物种（151 种，或澳大利亚物种总数的 52%）的猫捕食记录的汇编远远大于先前报告的（88 种），其中包括 50 种被 IUCN 列为受威胁的物种或根据澳大利亚立法（澳大利亚的 57% s 87 受威胁的陆生哺乳动物物种）。我们确定了最有可能受到猫捕食威胁的澳大利亚哺乳动物物种（mulgaras Dasycercus spp.、kowari Dasyuroides byrnei、许多较小的 dasyurodes 和中型到大型啮齿动物等），因此最有可能受益于加强减轻猫的捕食影响，例如易位到无捕食者的岛屿，建立防捕食者的围栏，以及大规模的猫毒诱饵。