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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Population Origins And Expansion Of Feral Cats In Australia, Peter B.S. Spencer, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Victor A. David, Rachael Scott, Klaus Peter Koepfli, Carlos Driscoll, Stephen J. O'Brien, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond
The Population Origins And Expansion Of Feral Cats In Australia, Peter B.S. Spencer, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Victor A. David, Rachael Scott, Klaus Peter Koepfli, Carlos Driscoll, Stephen J. O'Brien, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond
Biology Faculty Articles
The historical literature suggests that in Australia, the domestic cat (Felis catus) had a European origin [~200 years before present (ybp)], but it is unclear if cats arrived from across the Asian land bridge contemporaneously with the dingo (4000 ybp), or perhaps immigrated ~40000 ybp in association with Aboriginal settlement from Asia. The origin of cats in Australia is important because the continent has a complex and ancient faunal assemblage that is dominated by endemic rodents and marsupials and lacks the large placental carnivores found on other large continents. Cats are now ubiquitous across the entire Australian continent and have …