BBC Program Features GPS Tracking Of Domestic Cats

Cats are fascinating creatures to many of us. They’re all at once curious, lazy, playful, affection and stand-offish. Many of us keep these graceful kitties as pets and let them wonder in and out of the home as they please. We see stray and domestic cats alike out and about in our neighborhoods, as if they run the town. How many cat owners wonder what their cats are up to when they leave the home? GPS technology and the BBC show us exactly what 50 domestic cats in Surrey Village, in the U.K., were doing while roaming the neighborhood.  

“The Secret Life of The Cat” aired June 13, 2013 on the BBC’s Two Horizon program. The project was inspired by a team using GPS tracking collars to monitor wild cheetahs. The team was able to track cheetahs at a top speed of 58mph, gathering vital information about hunting maneuvers and acceleration. This research inspired a much smaller version of the study: tracking domestic cats. 50 cats were fitted with GPS devices and video camera. In consideration of privacy, the cameras and GPS automatically turn off when the cat enters a building, like a residence.

“If we understand an animal’s speed and maneuverability we will be able to see how managing habits will have an impact on predators and hunting,” explained Professor Alan Wilson, from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. “Our motivation for getting involved in the program is to showcase scientific research methods to the public and demonstrate science is cool. It’s an excellent large-scale deployment opportunity for our tracking collars and the analysis tools used for our studies on wild animals. Ironically we knew more about cheetahs than domestic cats, until this study.”

BBC Program Features GPS Tracking Of Domestic Cats