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posted by on Wednesday May 03 2017, @10:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the humans-aren't-number-one-by-a-mile? dept.

Our latest research reveals that the ecological "pawprint" of domestic dogs is much greater than previously realised.

Using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, we counted how many species are negatively affected by dogs, assessed the prevalence of different types of impacts, and identified regions with the greatest number of affected species.

Dogs are third-most-damaging mammal

We found that dogs are implicated in the extinction of at least 11 species, including the Hawaiian Rail and the Tonga Ground Skink. Dogs are also a known or potential threat to 188 threatened species worldwide: 96 mammal, 78 bird, 22 reptile and three amphibian species. This includes 30, two of which are classed as "possibly extinct".

These numbers place dogs in the number three spot after cats and rodents as the world's most damaging invasive mammalian predators.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 04 2017, @04:26AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 04 2017, @04:26AM (#504176)

    Dogs are pack animals with a hierarchy.
    They have a respect for the alpha dog in the pack.
    If a dog can be convinced that a human is the alpha, that suits a lot of humans.

    OTOH, calling cats "domesticated" strikes me odd.
    Anybody ever get a cat to follow a command or do -anything- that it didn't want to do itself?
    There's a reason that "herding cats" is a name for accomplishing impossible things.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 04 2017, @08:33AM (2 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday May 04 2017, @08:33AM (#504241) Journal

    Eh, kind of. At my first job there's a female cat who was a rescue. She's missing the tip of her left ear due to abuse and has what looks like a cat version of PTSD, nervous and fearful. We bonded about 2 years ago, a couple months after I started working there.

    It's about 50/50 she'll come if i get her attention with a sort of "prrrrrrew~" made by vibrating the tongue against the upper teeth. She *loves* me petting her and gives me the slow blink a lot. Will also rub on me and try and wash whatever bit of my arm is closest to her now and then, and sometimes she'll even hop into my lap and make biscuits. This definitely isn't anything like training a dog to come on command, but she seems to trust me at least.

    Cats are solitary, so domesticating them per se probably isn't going to happen, but we can try to meet them on their own terms...

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by Webweasel on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:59PM (1 child)

      by Webweasel (567) on Thursday May 04 2017, @02:59PM (#504342) Homepage Journal

      make biscuits???? Could you explain that please?

      Not so sure they are solitary, I have noticed when travelling in Europe that the feral cats seem to herd together.

      I have 3 cats at home and they are not solitary, they socialise with each other and with the neighbours cats. All 3 are pretty chill so some days I find 6 cats sitting on the table at the end of my garden. The neighbour cats seem to have worked out how chill mine are and my garden seems to be the safe place they all hang out.

      I have also read that cats only meow for humans, my anecdotal evidence says otherwise, my cats talk to each other all the time. They greet each other, meow to get space at the food bowl, play together. This could be my influence of course, I make sure to spend time with my cats. Normally, when I arrive home all 3 will be sitting on the doorstep waiting for me and I get a cacophony of greeting meows when I get home. I meow at them all the time almost developing our own language. I know my cats happy meows, food ones, water ones, I want attention from the other side of the room but I'm not coming to you meows, I caught a mouse and am really happy meows. I think they are far more domesticated than we think.. but know cats perhaps mine domesticated me? I wouldn't be surprised.

      --
      Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 04 2017, @07:05PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday May 04 2017, @07:05PM (#504478) Journal

        Oh, "making biscuits" is a slang term for what's called milk treading. You know when your cat hops in your lap and rubs with her front paws like she's kneading dough? That :) I'm told it means they're feeling safe and content.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...