Male and female rural domestic cats behave somewhat like lions

Cat queens mutual support and cooperation

A couple of scientific reports indicate to me that when the domestic cat is left to their own devices such as in rural locations e.g. as barn cats, their behaviour is very similar to that of lions living in the African Serengeti. People think of lion pride behavior as unique in the cooperation between …

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Is it true that male domestic cats kill kittens?

Do male cats kill kittens?

To answer the question, you have to break it down into categories which I’ve done. There’s a difference between the behaviour of the wildcat ancestor which is the same species as the domestic cat and from which we can learn about domestic cat behaviour, unsterilised male cats, sterilised male cats and kittens parented by …

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5 reasons why a male domestic cat might bite and kill kittens

Colony of cats out at night

I’m referring to male domestic cats and community cats. The best answer for this comes from Dr. Desmond Morris (Catwatching) and Sarah Hartwell (messybeast.com), both cat experts. They would probably provide at least two reasons as to why a male cat might bite his kittens but there are five in all. The first is …

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Do male feral cats kill kittens?

Unsterilised or late sterilised male cat

Yes, sometimes male feral cats (and unowned domestic cats) do kill kittens normally for the same reasons that male lions commit infanticide. I’m going to rely on two sources for the information. The first is a study titled “Infanticide in rural male cats as a reproductive mating tactic” by Dominic Pontier and Eugenia Natoli …

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Do male tigers kill their own cubs?

Tiger at kill site where young cubs are vulnerable to being killed by males

The question is specific and precise. It asks whether male tigers kill their offspring. The word that describes this is ‘filicide’. It describes the behaviour of animals and humans when they kill their offspring. The umbrella word for adults killing infants is “infanticide”. But infanticide can apply to a parents of one family killing …

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Cat species that commit infanticide

Domestic cat infanticide

There are five cat species which commit infanticide which is defined as the ‘intentional killing of infants’. On this page I am referring to the adults of cat species who kill their infants (filicide) and/or the infants of other parents of the same species. That’s a bit different. It is a tighter definition. Cubs …

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