Okay, we know that cats really can't be aliens. But scientists have actually argued something to a similar extent. In 2022, the Polish Academy of Sciences classified cats as an "invasive alien species." Put down your tinfoil hats, Pandas – this only means that felines originated from another continent and that Europe, the Americas, and other continents weren't their original home.
But there was another criterion that cats had to meet to be considered an invasive alien species. Scientists had to prove that they posed significant damage to wildlife, and one Polish biologist, Wojciech Solarz, managed to do so. He argued that they hunt and take out so many birds and mammals that they're starting to be a threat to biodiversity. According to him, domestic cats are responsible for 140 million birds losing their lives in Poland every year.
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Solarz's classification caused quite an uproar from the public. But scientists were quick to calm people down, saying that this was helpful for educational reasons and for policymaking. In no way does this mean that we should now start getting rid of cats or that people can't own them as pets.
"Today, the domestic cat is one of the most prolific and widespread invasive species, found on every continent except Antarctica," states a 2021 paper published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And while the U.S. does not classify it as an invasive species, they still admit that their huge population is a problem for other native species.
These animals are mostly birds and rodents. While we, humans, have domesticated cats so they can get rid of the rodents in our homes and farms, this form of pest control has now become problematic. The USDA estimates that "free-ranging and feral" cats are responsible for the demise of 1.3 billion to 4 billion birds and 6.3 billion to 22.3 billion mammals. And because they're native to the U.S., their demise can have serious repercussions for the ecosystem.
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In fact, cats, especially feral cats, might not be that good for pest control. In one controlled experiment in Brooklyn, cats chased the rats, but they only took the lives of two. Another study in Baltimore found no correlation between the number of cats and rats in alleys, meaning that the presence of cats doesn't automatically diminish the rat population.
There are reasons why cats are not the primary exterminators of rats and mice in cities. While mice might be just the right size, rats are actually too big for cats to hunt and eat. That's right – Tom & Jerry was lying to you all along. As Angus Chen writes for Scientific American, "Once that rat hits puberty, [it's] way too big and nasty for the cat to deal with. You can watch a lot of cats and rats accommodating one another, easing by one another, eating out of the same trash bag."
Cats are such menaces that they're even responsible for wiping out one species of bird! The wren, a tiny flightless bird native to New Zealand, was made extinct when a lighthouse keeper brought his cat (allegedly named Tibbles) to the South Island. Historians now theorize that Tibbles was probably pregnant and was responsible for a small population of cats that hunted down the wren.
The bird might also have lost its habitat as settlers cleared the bush and collected the birds as specimens for collectors. But Tibbles certainly played her part too.
