Oh no... The newest horror.. Cats kill Rats
Notice the article doesn't say rats... instead they use 'mammals' in the same sentence with 'cute and cuddly'.
FTA: A new study published by Nature Communications
shows the adorable family pets - renown for their cute and cuddly
antics - kill about 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals each year
in the United States alone.
... both domestic and feral cats are to blame for the massacre which is some three times worse than previously suspected...
Let's put this in a different perspective. From this article on Rat reproductive rates,
Take the conservative estimate in all cases EXCEPT assuming all off-spring survive a full life span.. something fewer cats would make more likely.
2 rats reach reproductive maturity in 2 month. They have 6 to 12 off spring per litter and can reproduce again every 3 months. Each generation time is then about 3 months. To make things simpler, assume the population doubles with each generation i.e. a gross underestimate..
Also assume 10 generation in 3 years instead of 12... Then 2 rats in 9 years generates 2.4 billion rats. After another year, 2047 have died of old age but another 8X have been added to the mix.
No wonder the ancient Egyptians honored and revered their cats.
Imagine what human society would be with an extra 12 billion rats and mice and their off-spring each year.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are reviewed before posting.