A SMALL CENSUS ON THE HOME RANGE OF DOMESTIC CATS

Abstract

In spite of an intimate relationship between men and domestic cats during thousands of years, there are yet numerous obscurities on the latter's life modes. The present paper deals with the results of a small census on their home range taken during 1954-1956 at Shinkotoni, a semirural village in the suburbs of Sapporo City. Answers of primary school children against enquetes on the maximal roaming distance of cats reared in each home (1), and of those visiting each home (2) are summed up in Table 1,which suggests 1) a marked variability of home range from 0 to more than 150 m (in an extreme case, 1 km), 2) relatively short roaming distance in comparison with their locomotive activities and 3) a slight tendency of the wider home range in males than in females. Furthermore, to obtain a more closer picture of home-range mosaics, the interviewing method was undertaken at two districts with the results illustrated in Figs. 1-3. The roaming distance shows again a marked individual variability, with the occurrence of a few cats whose home range extends over relatively wide areas. It was mainly these individuals that show a marked aggressiveness towards other cats.