Ricardo Rocha

Barbastella 8 (1) Open Access

ISSN: 1576-9720 SECEMU
[Link]

Look what the cat dragged in: Felis silvestris catus as predators of insular
bats and instance of predation on the endangered Pipistrellus maderensis

Ricardo Rocha1,2
¹ Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes
Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, 1749-016 Lisbon (Portugal).
2
Metapopulation Research Centre
University of Helsinki, PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1), FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland).

*Corresponding author e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

DOI: [Link] © 2015 Published by SECEMU.

Spanish title: Felis silvestris catus como predador de murciélagos insulares y cita de depredación sobre el amenazado Pipistrellus madei-
rensis.

Abstract: This note reports the predation of a threatened Madeira pipistrelle bat by a domestic house cat. This
represents the first confirmed record of cat predation upon a Macaronesian bat and adds to an increasing body of
evidence suggesting that free-ranging cats pose a strong negative impact to native insular vertebrate populations.

Keywords: bats, domestic cats, non-native species, Madeira pipistrelle, Macaronesia.

received: January 2nd. 2015

accepted: February 7th 2015

The impact of non-native species is one of the most

influential forces underpinning the global biodiversity
crisis (Nogales et al. 2013, Dirzo et al. 2014). Since the
domestication of the African wildcat Felis silvestris lybica
some 9500 years ago, the domestic counterpart F. s. catus
(Fig. 1) has become one of the world’s most abundant and
widespread pets and has established feral populations in both
continental and island ecosystems (Driscoll et al. 2007).

Free-ranging cats are generalist and opportunistic

predators that tend to proliferate around human populated
areas, with detrimental effects on a wide array of native
taxa (Woods et al. 2003, Bonnaud et al. 2011, Loss et al.
2013). Their impacts are especially pervasive in insular
ecosystems where they ultimately function as superpredators
because most species have evolved in the absence of
mammal predation (Blackburn et al. 2004). At least 175 Fig. 1 – Free-roaming domestic cat Felis silvestris catus,
insular vertebrate species have been driven to extinction or Funchal, Madeira.
are threatened as a result of the introduction of this species
(Medina et al. 2011). As such, F. s. catus has been included
in the 100 worst invasive species list (Lowe et al., 2000) and Mammals are frequently preyed by cats (Woods et al.
is considered one of the top 100 terrestrial invasive flora and 2003), though in insular populations this mostly reflects
fauna species of conservation concern in the Macaronesia predation upon non-native rodents and lagomorphs (Nogales
bioregion (Silva et al. 2008). & Medina 2009, Millan 2010, Bonnaud et al. 2011). Bats are

18 Barbastella 8(1) 2015

 Look what the cat dragged in: Felis silvestris catus as predators of insular bats and instance
of predation on the endangered Pipistrellus maderensis

represent an isolated capture of a debilitated bat from the

ground but indeed corresponds to predation upon a healthy
individual. Individual cats can specialize on particular types
of prey (Churcher et al. 1989), including bats (Scrimgeour et
al. 2012, Ancilloto et al. 2013). They can thus be potentially
very dangerous for the persistence of entire colonies
(particularly nursery roosts); the fact that the cat reported
in this note already preyed upon other bats is alarming,
particularly for a species with small populations.

Domestic cat predation was found to represent a significant

threat to bats in the Italian peninsula, where most adult bat
admissions to wildlife rescue centres were associated with
cat-related injuries (Ancillotto et al. 2013). Furthermore,
from a total of 9852 mammal prey items brought home
by 986 cats in Great Britain over a 5 month period, 0.2%
belonged to chiropteran species (Woods et al. 2003). Free-
ranging cats were estimated to kill between 6.9–20.7 billion
mammals in the United States, surpassing all other sources
of human-induced mortality (Loss et al. 2013). However,
this study reported no breakdown of the mammalian prey
species, therefore, the true impact of domestic cats in the US
Fig. 2 – Adult Madeira pipistrelle Pipistrellus maderensis, on bat populations is still unknown.
Porto Moniz, Madeira.
Despite the paucity of studies investigating the
common in human-made structures and co-occur with cats in relationship between cats and bats in insular ecosystems,
many island ecosystems worldwide; however, reports of cat several insular chiropteran species have been identified as
predation on insular bats are scarce (Bonnaud et al. 2011 but targets of free-roaming cats. In Puerto Rico, cats were found
see Rodríguez-Durán et al. 2010 and Scrimgeour et al. 2012). to systematically visit caves harbouring multispecies bat
assemblages and scat analyses revealed that at least 5 bat
The Madeira pipistrelle Pipistrellus maderensis (Fig. 2) species were regularly consumed by free-ranging felines
is a small vesper bat known to occur in the Macaronesian (Rodríguez-Durán et al. 2010). In this study, and during a
archipelagos of Madeira and Canary (Jesus et al. 2013) and period of 8 months, researchers recovered 320 bat wings
possibly on some Azorean islands (Rainho et al. 2002). Due representing at least 161 individual bats and observed up to
to its reduced area of occurrence and presumed decreasing 16 cats hunting in the same cave in a single night. In New
population size, this is one of the most threatened European Zealand a single male cat preyed on at least 102 IUCN
bat species, thus being currently classified as endangered vulnerable short-tailed bats Mystacina tuberculata rhyocobia
according to the IUCN Global Red List (Juste et al. 2008) in two colonial roost trees over a 7 day period (Scrimgeour
and critically endangered according to the Portuguese Red et al. 2012). On Christmas Island, cats were reported to prey
Book of Vertebrates (Queiroz et al. 2005). Predation by on black-eared flying foxes Pteropus melanotus (Bonnaud et
non-native mammals, including cats, has been suggested al. 2011) and have been suggested to have contributed to the
as a possible threat to P. maderensis (Jesus et al. 2009), population decline of the presumed extinct Christmas Island
however, until now this has not been confirmed. The present Pipistrelle Pipistrellus murrayi (Schulz & Lumsden 2004,
note therefore provides evidence of the suspected predation Martin et al. 2012).
of P. maderensis by introduced cats, reporting an instance
of domestic cat predation on an adult bat in Madeira Island, Free-roaming cat demographic management combined
Portugal. with initiatives aimed at altering human behaviours that
augment the impacts of domestic cats on wildlife populations
On 21st December 2014 a female adult domestic cat (e.g. allowing outdoor access or unwanted pet abandonment)
brought home a recently killed adult Madeira pipistrelle would undoubtedly lessen the consequences of cat predation
(forearm = 33 mm; tibia = 12.5 mm). The bat presented a upon native taxa (Miller et al. 2014). Collar-mounted
ventral wound under the right arm and a single perforation warning devices were suggested to reduce mortality of
to the right wing. The house was located in an urban area wildlife by domestic cats (Nelson et al. 2005), though their
(32.6565, -16.9079) in Madeira’s capital, Funchal, and the effectiveness in reducing cat predation upon bats is still to be
domestic cat was well-fed, wore no bell and had unrestricted verified. Further investigation on the magnitude of predation
access to outdoors. After identification the retrieved bat was by domestic cats upon insular bats is clearly warranted, and
deposited at the Funchal Natural History Museum (MMF detailed reports of cat kills such as the one here presented
44313). Prior to this incident, the same cat had brought are essential for a better understanding of this major but
home two other bats over the period of less than one year. neglected cause of bat mortality.
However, the cat’s owner discarded both individuals and
the specimens’ identity could not be confirmed. The type of
injuries and the fact that the cat had already brought home
other bats suggests that the instance here reported does not

Barbastella 8(1) 2015 19

 Ricardo Rocha

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I am extremely grateful to Sasha Vasconcelos for yet
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another English revision and to José Jesus for providing the
Commission, World Conservation Union (IUCN),
photo of a live specimen of Pipistrellus maderensis. I also
Auckland, New Zealand.
thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
for financial support (PhD grant SFRH/BD/80488/2011). Martin, T. G., Nally, S., Burbidge, A. A., Arnall, S.,
Garnett, S. T., Hayward, M. W., Lumsden, L.
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