abstract
Feral cats were found to be well established all around Marion Island over an area of 234 km2, up to the 450 m contour line. Estimated crude and ecological densities for the coastal and interior regions were 9,75 and 13,85 and 1,31 and 4,98 cats per km2 respectively. Cat distribution seems to be influenced by that of their avian prey species, which in turn appears to be influenced by the availability of soft soil in which to burrow. The majority of cats inhabited the coastal region, with the highest densities occurring on the grey lava slopes, followed by Cotula-hillocks, and areas of vegetated black lava. No cats occurred on barren black lava flows. Extrapolation from region specific density data gave a population estimate of 2 139 �0 individuals.