by Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | October 02, 2015 07:21am ET
How far feral cats roam can now be estimated from space, a new study finds.
No, satellites haven't become so sensitive as to be able to follow the movements of individual felines. But a new study finds that the productivity of a landscape — measured by vegetation-tracking satellites — determines the range of feral cats.
This matters because feral cats (domesticated cats that live in the wild) are major predators for native birds and small mammals the world over. A 2013 study published in the journal Nature Communications estimated that cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds and as many as 20.7 billion small mammals each year.
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