Mating behaviors, courtship rank and mating success of male feral cat (Felis catus)

Abstract

--The mating behavior of the male feral cat (Felis catus) living on a small island was investigated. The cats in the study area (6.0 ha) formed the "feeding groups" at the garbage sites (Yamane et al. 1994;Izawa et al. 1982). We examined the factors influencing fighting ability, rank during courtship, and mating success of the male cat. Males with heavier body weight mostly won over lighter males in the agonistic encounters during the estrous season. Heavier males occupied the more advantageous positions to copulate with the estrous females and had higher mating success. These results suggest that body weight was one of the important factors affecting the courtship rank and the mating success of the male cat. When males visited and courted the females of feeding groups other than their own, they were sometimes defeated by the lighter males in that particular group, which lowered their courtship rank and success in copulations. These results indicate that the location of the courting male (inside or outside of its own group) and the kind of females they courted (member of the same group or not) were also important factors.

Transmission of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus in a population of cats (Felis catus)

“…Indeed, we showed that there is a correlation between the likelihood of being infected and three different measures of social ranking (see also Yamaguchi et al 1996). First, infected individuals are larger than other individuals, and it has been shown that body size is a major factor in determining the social rank of cats (Liberg 1981(Liberg , 1983Yamane et al 1996;Yamane 1998). Second, analysis of the spatial structure of the population indicates that infected individuals had the largest home ranges, which is a typical feature of dominant individuals in domestic cats (Liberg 1981).…”

“…Second, analysis of the spatial structure of the population indicates that infected individuals had the largest home ranges, which is a typical feature of dominant individuals in domestic cats (Liberg 1981). Third, infected cats displayed more behaviours typical of dominant individuals, such as more home range 'patrolling' and marking, less resting (Natoli 1985;Kerby and Macdonald 1988) and more mountings of females by males (Yamane et al 1996). Dominant cats are characterised by a better fighting ability (Kerby and Macdonald 1988;Yamane et al 1996) and greater aggressiveness , and are more likely to be involved in fights and therefore to acquire and transmit FIV.…”

“…Third, infected cats displayed more behaviours typical of dominant individuals, such as more home range 'patrolling' and marking, less resting (Natoli 1985;Kerby and Macdonald 1988) and more mountings of females by males (Yamane et al 1996). Dominant cats are characterised by a better fighting ability (Kerby and Macdonald 1988;Yamane et al 1996) and greater aggressiveness , and are more likely to be involved in fights and therefore to acquire and transmit FIV. Since precise age was known for only a few individuals, we could not test our data for an effect of age.…”

“…Data were pooled for a preliminary analysis of the behavioural and home-range size differences between infected and uninfected individuals (4590 observations in total). Four different behaviours were analysed for this study: walking, marking and resting, which are associated (the latter negatively) with territory vigilance or defence, and mounting of females by males, which can be associated with dominance (Yamane et al 1996). In all, 48 cats, with 20-335 observations each, were used for these analyses.…”

Influence of oestrus synchronization on male reproductive success in the domestic cat ( Felis catus L.)

“…Large social cat groups are generally characterized by synchronous breeding (Natoli & De Vito 1988;Yamane et al 1996). Given that the ancestral cat probably lived solitarily (Leyhausen 1988), synchrony of reproduction could be advantageous to group-living females for several reasons.…”