Assessment of Cat Bait Consumption by Mongoose Species.

Bachelorarbeit Biologie

35 Seiten

Fachbereich Biowissenschaften der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Betreuung: Prof. Dr. Markus Pfenninger, Dr. David Algar) und Zoo Landau (Betreuung: Dr. Jens-Ove Heckel and Dr. Christina Schubert)

Voller Text

Abstract:

Feral cats and mongooses are species of concern when it comes to serious threats to biodiversity in fragile ecological systems. Baiting, using mainly poisoning with specially developed baits as an eradication tool, has been used in Australia to control feral cats but has not been applied in mongoose control. Feral cats and mongooses have many similarities in physiology and feeding habits and it therefore, may be concluded, that baiting is likely to be an effective control method and that mongooses would accept feral cat baits and could also be treated with the same toxicant.

To test the consumption of the amount of bait accepted by three groups of captive banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) two kinds of baits were used: the Eradicat® bait and the Curiosity® bait. The two baits were offered consecutively in a series of trials at 10 AM and 2 PM, alternatively, the baits were offered with the normal diet of the mongooses. Furthermore, the animals were observed for an hour how they handled the bait before they consumed it.

This study showed that the acceptance of Curiosity® was considerably lower than that of Eradicat®. The two different feeding times showed a difference in bait acceptance: less bait was consumed at 2 PM compared to 10 AM. The mongooses´ behaviour in bait handling can be described in three categories (approach, acceptance, ignoring).

It can be concluded that meat baits as Eradicat® and Curiosity® can serve as baits for free-ranging mongooses. Bait uptake was also influenced by the different behaviour of the mongoose groups.

The application of baiting as a control technique for mongooses requires not only a specifically designed bait but also a specific toxicant which could be tailored to mongooses´ metabolism.

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