Cat (Felis catus)
Image: Dave Hinchliffe
Observed: Koh Chang, April 2016
Observed By: Dave Hinchliffe, Everyone!
So obviously there’s loads and loads of cats on Koh Chang. They are the world’s most popular pet and live everywhere where there are people.
However all cats retain a large part of their wild cat roots – even those two pictured – and any cat that doesn’t have extensive exposure to humans in their first eight weeks will become feral and seek to avoid people.
they are accomplished hunters despite their scrounging expertise and are more than capable of fending for themselves. Feral and domestic cats have become a significant predator in Koh Chang, feeding on lizards, snakes, birds and small mammals. It is interesting to speculate whether they are responsible for threatening the survival of any indiginous species. Probably, although even the wild cats seem to prefer to scavenge on the margins of human development rather than deep in the junge where plenty of things will be more than happy to feed on them.
