The Meaning of Life and Other Vegetables

Hello everyone.

Sorry to trick you like that, but we actually don’t. We most certainly don’t need cats in Australia. Not domestic cats, and not feral cats, which wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have domestic cats brought over in the first place.

Originally, Australia didn’t have any cats at all. They were brought here by humans, as part of the Western colonization (like foxes, rabbits and cane toads). By the way, Australia also didn’t have dogs, either. It now has “native” Dingoes (which are pretty much – biologically – dogs); apparently brought over as part of (or sometime after) the initial human colonization of the island, some 60,000 years ago. But no dogs evolved in Australia.

Don’t get me wrong. I love domestic cats. In my previous life – far away from Australia – I had several cats, for years and years. Cats are an evolutionary masterpiece, perfected for survival (especially for hunting); and also very nice, cuddly and furry companions for humans. But they still don’t belong in Australia. The local fauna just can’t cope with those perfected killing machines, and the results are devastating.

If cats only hunted for feeding, the problem would have been much smaller. I believe most domestic cats’ owners feed them sufficiently. But it seems that cats on the loose (be they feral, or domestic cats allowed to roam freely at night) have a hunting drive regardless of any need to feed. They are simply very good at it; whether they enjoy it, need to practice to “stay in shape”, or do it for some other reason – I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they do it.

Western Ringtail possums are funny little creatures. Small, furry, very gentle, nocturnal, timid, shy. They are endemic to the SouthWest corner of Western Australia, and not many of them are left. Evolutionarily, nothing near the cat success story. One might say, “quite lame” – as their dwindling numbers attest. They are territorial. the females inhabit “cells” (one female per cell), where they feed, breed and raise the young. Typically living on a single tree, where they build their drey (a sort of enclosed nest), they would travel short distances between adjacent trees or on the ground, when they have no choice. A single male usually dominates a number of adjacent such cells, visiting his ladies occasionally.

When they are on the ground, both females and males are easy targets for cats. And indeed, the latter are very efficient at the kill. On tree branches… well, they are an easy target for cats there too! In short – evolution in all its glory: The more efficient variant is eliminating the lesser one. The only disclaimer in this case is that possums did all right in Australia until Westerners brought cats over. So, this is human-skewed evolution. One might argue: Humans are part of nature, and specifically a part of natural evolution; so anything they do is a fair and natural part of the game. To that I have no solid counter-argument. But I still lament the loss of our lovely possums, and more generally, the reduction in biodiversity.

That’s not a Ringtail Possum. It’s a Brushtail Possum – a relative. They are a bit bigger, and not as threatened. But for all of you non-Australians, it gives an idea what a possum is… It’s not finished, and I’ll probably never finish it, but that’s okay!…

Peace to all.
(Mostly, Western Ringtail Possums)
(And cats too)