If you have one kitten or have already lived with this animal, you may even find these numbers strange. But yes, cats eat more than 2,000 species of animals, no matter how harmless they seem. Find out why this happens and what species they are.
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The statement is the result of a study published in the journal Nature Communications, which found that domestic cats around the world hunt and eat a variety of animals, including birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and amphibians.
Cats eat more than 2,000 species of animals!
The study surprised many people, especially those who view kittens as harmless and cute animals. The final list includes 981 bird species, 463 reptiles, 431 mammals, 119 insects, 57 amphibians and 33 species from other groups. So a total of 2,084.
Cats are opportunistic predators and hunt a variety of animals depending on habitat and prey availability. For example, domestic cats that live in urban areas are more likely to hunt rodents and insects, while domestic cats that live in rural areas hunt more birds, reptiles and small mammals.
As much as it is a natural and expected behavior of animals, cat hunting can in some cases lead to the extinction of animal species. So much so that they are considered, for example, to be the main culprit for the extinction of seabirds in New Zealand.
For this reason, many experts also emphasize the need to provide domesticated animals with enough food to prevent cats from having to eat other species in such quantities. Other recommendations include spaying or neutering cats.
They are so predatory that they are considered a threat to biodiversity. Therefore, if they live in urban or rural environments with a variety of prey animals, it is ideal to team up with the help of zookeepers to protect endangered species and keep cats indoors, especially at night.