Nitpick, but cats aren’t an “apex” predator in any environment. They are hunted by pretty much every carnivore at least as big as a coyote, including large birds of prey.
They are in New Zealand, where the problem is worse than in Australia. New Zealand has zero native land predators. There are some birds of prey that can hunt invasive stoats and rats, but cats are effectively uncontested (with the exception of humans performing population control).
Fair enough, I should know better than to use absolute statements in nature and that does highlight the delicacy of small island ecology. (It’s still true for Australia though which has enough dangerous animals for the domestic cat to be firmly a “mesopredator”)
They are apex predators in Australia. There are no large carnivors that take them out. Dingoes are not common, a cat would give a Goanna a run for its money, cats don’t go in the water so sharks are a different environment, crocodiles live in a small portion of the country. A cat will hunt snakes, snakes will typically only defend, but not all snakes are poisonous and cats have been known to win against the poisonous ones. Wedge tailed eagles again are not everywhere and are mostly just scavengers. Emus are fucking idiots.
When cats get out here they go feral and eat everything in the immediate area. The feral cats that have been feral for generations are significantly bigger and more aggressive than a house cat, and will actively attack sheep.
There aren’t enough large predators to keep their population in check. That’s not the same thing as being the apex. Dingoes would be more common if they weren’t so widely killed at the behest of whining farmers (we have a similar problem with gray wolves and mountain lions).
Nitpick, but cats aren’t an “apex” predator in any environment. They are hunted by pretty much every carnivore at least as big as a coyote, including large birds of prey.
They are in New Zealand, where the problem is worse than in Australia. New Zealand has zero native land predators. There are some birds of prey that can hunt invasive stoats and rats, but cats are effectively uncontested (with the exception of humans performing population control).
Fair enough, I should know better than to use absolute statements in nature and that does highlight the delicacy of small island ecology. (It’s still true for Australia though which has enough dangerous animals for the domestic cat to be firmly a “mesopredator”)
They are apex predators in Australia. There are no large carnivors that take them out. Dingoes are not common, a cat would give a Goanna a run for its money, cats don’t go in the water so sharks are a different environment, crocodiles live in a small portion of the country. A cat will hunt snakes, snakes will typically only defend, but not all snakes are poisonous and cats have been known to win against the poisonous ones. Wedge tailed eagles again are not everywhere and are mostly just scavengers. Emus are fucking idiots.
When cats get out here they go feral and eat everything in the immediate area. The feral cats that have been feral for generations are significantly bigger and more aggressive than a house cat, and will actively attack sheep.
There aren’t enough large predators to keep their population in check. That’s not the same thing as being the apex. Dingoes would be more common if they weren’t so widely killed at the behest of whining farmers (we have a similar problem with gray wolves and mountain lions).
You’re wrong.
A critical part of that statement is “at the top of a food chain”.