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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Phoebe Weston

Killer kitties: cats are eating 2,000 species, including hundreds that are at risk

A wild cat carries a titmouse in its mouth.
Cats eat 981 species of bird, 463 reptiles and 431 mammals globally. Photograph: Vasiliy Vishnevskiy/Alamy

Cats may be adored human companions, but they are also highly effective killers, according to a study that shows they eat more than 2,000 species globally – including hundreds that are of conservation concern.

Since domestication 9,000 years ago, house cats have spread to all continents except Antarctica. In the paper, published in Nature Communications, researchers describe them as “amongst the most problematic invasive species in the world”.

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