SYDNEY, June 24 (Xinhua/APP): Australian researchers have identified feral cats as a significant threat to the endangered Carnaby’s cockatoo, a large black parrot native to southwestern Australia.
The long-term study published by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity on Monday shows feral cats prey on adult female cockatoos, nestlings and eggs, particularly targeting birds nesting in tree hollows.
The study, conducted over 38 years in the northern wheatbelt of Western Australia, documented feral cat predation in at least three breeding seasons.
In those years, up to 24 percent of breeding attempts were impacted, with cat attacks resulting in the deaths of adult females and their young. The highest predation rates coincided with drought conditions, which likely reduced the availability of other prey for the cats, the study said.
Carnaby’s cockatoos, which reach sexual maturity at three or four years and breed in mature eucalypt hollows, are already under pressure from habitat loss. The additional threat from feral cats could further reduce the survival of breeding females and fledglings, undermining efforts to conserve the species, said the study published in Pacific Conservation Biology.
The study authors recommend local-scale control measures, such as shooting and cage trapping, to mitigate the impact of feral cats.
While cat predation in Australia typically targets smaller, ground-dwelling birds, the increasing threat to large, hollow-nesting species like Carnaby’s cockatoo is alarming, underscoring the urgent need for protective measures, it said.