"Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves"
Cooke et al. 2023 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43445-2
Meanwhile my neighbor, a cat owner, tells me that domestic cats "only" kill birds that are ill or weak in some way, therefore helping out wild populations stay healthy. The stench of wishful thinking can be felt from across town, cf.:
"The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States", Loss et al. 2013 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380%C2%A0
Don't be mislead by the statement: "Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality", because "we define un-owned cats to include farm/barn cats, strays that are fed by humans but not granted access to habitations, cats in subsidized colonies and cats that are completely feral".
Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves - Nature Communications
The true number of human-driven bird extinctions is likely larger than we think. Here, the authors combine recorded extinctions with estimates from the fossil record to suggest that ~1400 bird species have gone extinct since the Late Pleistocene.Nature
Albert Cardona
in reply to Albert Cardona • • •There are newspaper articles about these studies:
"Human-driven extinction of bird species twice as high as thought, study says" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/19/human-driven-extincition-of-bird-species-twice-as-high-as-thought-study-says-aoe
"Killer kitties: cats are eating 2,000 species, including hundreds that are at risk" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/12/cats-diet-2000-species-conservation-study-aoe
#CatsOfMastodon
Killer kitties: cats are eating 2,000 species, including hundreds that are at risk
Phoebe Weston (The Guardian)Sam Levine
in reply to Albert Cardona • • •Responding to misinformation and criticisms regarding United States cat predation estimates - Biological Invasions
SpringerLink