Cats eat diverse smorgasbord of wildlife

It’s well known that free-ranging cats eat lots of birds and rodents. But researchers recently documented cats around the world eating 2,000 species, including reptiles, mammals, even a number of insects, like monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) and emperor dragonflies (Anax imperator). Even more surprising, the study in Nature Communications uncovered evidence of cats scavenging species such as camels, cows and endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchlings. The researchers’ findings came from a search of published and unpublished literature on cat predation.

“Domestic cats (Felis catus) are beloved companions for many people, but they are also invasive predators that have been linked to numerous birds, mammals and reptiles going extinct,” said Andrew Mitchinson, an editor at the journal Nature, in a related article.

Read more in USA Today.