Australia’s Feral Cats Are Getting Too Big for Dingoes — And Biologists Can’t Explain Why

Australia's feral cats are getting too big for dingoes, and people in the bush say the cats are winning. Some feral toms now grow almost as big as a small dingo. Whether that's new, and why it happens, biologists still can't agree. After our video on dingoes hunting feral cats, the comments filled up with stories from the Red Centre and the bush: "The cats ALWAYS won." Rangers in the Great Sandy Desert are seeing the opposite. We weigh the evidence, from the giant cat shot near Sale in Gippsland to Arid Recovery's scales, a 1996 federal review of rabbit country and Murdoch University's study of 568 feral cats. In this Australian wildlife documentary we look at four explanations for the biggest feral cats, why baiting for wild dogs may be letting cats grow old, what a new 400-cat genome study could reveal, and whether anything can stop them, from the Kangaroo Island eradication to predator-proof fences, dingoes and desexed pets. Subscribe for more Australian animals, invasive species, dangerous wildlife and the hidden stories of wild Australia. Have you ever seen a feral cat stand its ground against a dog or a dingo? Tell us in the comments. #Australia #FeralCats #Dingo #AustralianWildlife #InvasiveSpecies #Outback #wildlife Credits (cropped/excerpted; no endorsement). i = inaturalist.org/photos/ID, c = commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=ID. Licences: creativecommons.org/licenses CC BY 4.0: Proteros i259797018; James H i485050501 i629105940 i629106011 i499068673 i499070994 i485050761 i499070223 i499070435 i499071409 i499071997 i499070987 i499068683; dhfischer i245814430 i245814436; Thomas Mesaglio i588990376 i133736727 i135440970 i90578192 i588990393 i588990405 i588990415; avocat i448531290; Bryce Watts-Parker i588959786 i636902262 i651299047 i467923640 i527792093 i515557057 i527791309 i527792694 i555492177; David Gobbett i450667294 i116495430; Zara i380942660; Chris Clarke i74918688; Scott Warner i177162454; McGregor et al. 2015 PLOS ONE pone.0133915; Wairambar Rainforest i458332019; A.J. Anderson i143848849; Forsyth et al. 2014 PLOS ONE pone.0097937; Em Lamond i336460058 i243290547; Ramit Singal i453011552; Tom Fletcher i456448460; sblumen i457566131; S. Lesbats, IFREMER c163173538; JR Ferrer-Paris i485674999; Valentin Moser i30332315 i29399226; Daniel i318313817; Wild Deserts, Magro et al. 2024 doi:10.1071/WR24163; Pål A. Olsvik i247885825; Ben Jobson i281421275; Matt B i690758260; Edward Bell i60273932; S. Carlquist c195174514 CC BY 3.0: Robert Kerton, CSIRO c35456143 c35443555 c35447248; Malcolm Paterson, CSIRO c35442347 c35444961 c35442406 c35444029; Gregory Heath, CSIRO c35480958; Nick Pitsas, CSIRO c35442029; Willem van Aken, CSIRO c35479968 c35482505; CSIRO c35442373 c35457221 c35443973; Bertram Lobert c10422846 CC BY 2.5 AU: JarrahTree c52453286 CC BY 2.0: arthur_chapman c5544973; Brian Gratwicke c18346740; Shixart1985 c186093442; Donald Hobern c107577978