Explore the vast range of titles available.

Inappropriate anti‐predator responses (naiveté) towards introduced predators is a key factor contributing to the extinction and endangerment of prey species world‐wide and the failure of wildlife reintroductions. Here, we test the idea that success of reintroduction can be improved by exposing a predator naïve prey species to introduced predators under controlled conditions (in situ predation) prior to reintroduction, such that prey adopt increased wary behaviours to aid in survival. We exposed a population of a naïve marsupial, the greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis), to a controlled number of introduced predators (feral cats, Felis catus) for 2 years within a large fenced paddock and then compared the pre‐release behaviour and post‐translocation survival of predator‐exposed and predator‐naïve bilbies over 40 days. Behavioural assays conducted in a small pen prior to reintroduction suggested that predator‐exposed bilbies were warier as they spent less time moving and more time in cover than predator naïve bilbies. After translocation, predator‐exposed bilbies were more likely to survive to 40 days and were less likely to be preyed upon by cats than predator‐free bilbies. Synthesis and applications. Naiveté towards predators is a major problem thwarting successful reintroductions world‐wide. Our study demonstrates that exposure to predators under controlled conditions can increase survival of reintroduced prey and is a promising approach to overcome the problem of naiveté towards introduced predators and the global problem of prey naiveté. Future conservation of naïve prey species may depend on such training methods prior to releasing into areas where predators are present. Naiveté towards predators is a major problem thwarting successful reintroductions world‐wide. Our study demonstrates that exposure to predators under controlled conditions can increase survival of reintroduced prey and is a promising approach to overcome the problem of naiveté towards introduced predators and the global problem of prey naiveté. Future conservation of naïve prey species may depend on such training methods prior to releasing into areas where predators are present.

After Alderpaw returns from the gorge that was once home to SkyClan, the ferocious cats who drove SkyClan out trace Alderpaw's path back to ShadowClan, making it their next target.

Overabundant populations of feral equids are negatively affecting rangelands in the western United States. To better manage these populations, robust estimates of abundance and demographic rates and cost-effective methods of reducing abundance are necessary. From August 2015 to April 2017, we estimated the abundance of feral burros (Equus asinus) at the Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC; California, USA) using a double-observer-sightability aerial survey method; captured, radio-collared, and inoculated female burros with porcine zona pellucida (PZP), an immunocontraceptive control agent; estimated female demographic rates; and used matrix population models to simulate how changes in demographic and PZP delivery rates would influence burro abundance. We estimated there were 690 (95% CI=618–752) feral burros within the surveyed area, but these are part of a much larger population that is not geographically isolated from those in the survey area. Sighting probabilities ranged from 0.19–0.98 and were most strongly influenced by distance from observer and group size. We estimated age-specific demographic rates at the NTC and compiled mean rates across burro populations in arid environments from the literature. Mean fecundity varied from 0.17 to 0.58 foals/adult female with younger females having lower fecundity. Mean survival was 0.90 for foals, 0.98 for yearlings, and 0.96 for adults. The PZP vaccine treatment strategies that suppressed fertility for up to 10 years predicted that burro abundance would be reduced by 67–88% after 15 years (compared with no treatment), but none of these strategies resulted in population extirpation. Population growth rates shifted from increasing to decreasing at adult survival rates below 0.84 and the population was predicted to become extirpated when adult survival declined to <0.60. In the absence of other methods to reduce burro numbers, our findings indicate that current formulations of PZP immunocontraception, which require multiple doses, would be inadequate for controlling population growth rates at the NTC. Our fieldwork also highlighted the difficulty of administering PZP vaccination to large, free-ranging animals. Development of longer-term fertility reduction agents or more efficient vaccine delivery techniques would likely improve the efficacy of fertility control for overabundant ungulate populations. Lack of geographic closure (physical barriers to migration) further complicated efforts to reduce burro numbers.

\"A wild, nameless girl the townspeople call Wee Sister Strange roams through forests and marshes and bogs in search for a bedtime story\"-- Provided by publisher.

A prevailing view in dryland systems is that mammals are constrained by the scarcity of fertile soils and primary productivity. An alternative view is that predation is a primary driver of mammal assemblages, especially in Australia, where 2 introduced mesopredators—feral cat (Felis catus) and redfox (Vulpes vulpes)—are responsible for severe declines of dryland mammals. We evaluated productivity and prédation as drivers of native mammal assemblage structure in dryland Australia. We used new data from 90 sites to examine the divers of extant mammal species richness and reconstructed historic mammal assemblages to determine proportional loss of mammal species across broad habitat types (landform and vegetation communities). Predation was supported as a major driver of extant mammal richness, but its effect was strongly mediated by habitat. Areas that were rugged or had dense grass cover supported more mammal species than the more productive and topographically simple areas. Twelve species in the critical weight range (CWR) (35-5500 g) that is most vulnerable to mesopredator predation were extirpated from the continent's central region, and the severity of loss of species correlated negatively with ruggedness and positively with productivity. Based on previous studies, we expect that habitat mediates predation from red foxes and feral cats because it affects these species' densities and foraging efficiency. Large areas of rugged terrain provided vital refuge for Australian dryland mammals, and we predict such areas will support the persistence of CWR species in the face of ongoing mammal declines elsewhere in Australia. Una visión prevalente en los sistemas secos es que los mamíferos están restringidos por la escasez de suelos fértiles y productividad primaria. Una visión alternativa es que la depredación es un conductor primario de los ensamblajes de los mamíferos, especialmente en Australia, en donde dos mesodepredadores introducidos - el gato feral (Felis catus) y el zorro rojo (Vulpes vulpes) - son los responsables de declinaciones graves de los mamíferos desérticos. Evaluamos a la productividad y a la depredación como conductores de la estructura de ensamblaje de mamíferos nativos en los desiertos de Australia. Utilizamos datos nuevos de 90 sitios para examinar a los conductores de la riqueza de especies de mamíferos existentes y reconstruimos los ensamblajes históricos de mamíferos para determinar la pérdida proporcional de las especies de mamíferos a lo largo de los tipos generales de habitat (accidente geográfico o vegetación). La depredación fue respaldada como el principal conductor de la riqueza de mamíferos existentes, pero su efecto estuvo mediado considerablemente por el habitat. Las áreas que eran escabrosas o que tenían una cobertura densa de pasto pudieron mantener a más especies de mamíferos que las áreas más productivas o más simples topográficamente. Doce especies en el rango crítico de peso (RCP) (35 - 5500 g) que son más vulnerables a la depredación por mesodepredadores fueron extirpadas de la región central del continente, y la gravedad de la pérdida de especies estuvo correlacionada negativamente con la escabrosidad y positivamente con la productividad. Con base en estudios previos, esperamos que el hábitat medie la depredación por parte de los zorros rojos y los gatos ferales porque afecta a la densidad de estas especies y su eficiencia para buscar comida. Las áreas extensas de terreno escabroso proporcionan refugio vital para los mamíferos desérticos de Australia y pronosticamos que dichas áreas podrán mantener la persistencia de las especies RCP de frente a las declinaciones de mamíferos en otras partes de Australia.

Cassie's good friend Dawn is part of an organization that's trying to protect a colony of stray cats on the property of a condo community in Chadwick, New Jersey. The residents have got their backs up over the cat invasion, and Dawn has come to Cassie's grooming and boarding shop, Cassie's Comfy Cats, to ask her help in talking sense to them. Not everyone's against the cats. Eccentric Sabrina Ward feeds them and has even created makeshift shelters for them in the nearby woods, infuriating her neighbors. Following a heated community meeting--in which Cassie and Dawn come up with a proposal--Sabrina's body is found in the woods. The police are calling her death an accident, but Cassie smells a rat. Narrowing down the list of suspects may be tougher than herding cats, but Cassie is determined to collar the killer before another cat lover has a fatal accident.

Compares three types of prototype meat-based bait and one currently registered fishmeal polymer pellet for their palatability to feral cats and non-target species, as part of a non-toxic palatability trial undertaken in preparation for feral cat eradication on Auckland Island. Estimates degradation rates of baits over a range of environmental conditions Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Mowgli, a man-cub raised by wolves, is lured from the delights and dangers of the jungle by the song of a village girl.

Part of the Zoological Society of London's Conservation Science and Practice Series, Applied Population and Community Ecology evaluates theory in population and community ecology using a case study of feral pigs, birds and plants in the high country of south-eastern Australia. In sequence, the book reviews the relevant theory and uses long-term research over a quarter of a century on the population ecology of feral pigs and then community ecology of birds and plants, to evaluate the theory. The book brings together into one volume, research results of many observational, experimental and modelling studies and directly compares them with those from related studies around the world. The implications of the results for future wildlife management are also discussed. Intended readers are ecologists, graduate students in ecology and wildlife management and conservation and pest managers.