Cats may alter their activity to better coexist with predators. Our results indicate that cats are widespread in this region and their relative abundance is driven more by landscape features than by yard features, possibly due to their large home ranges. Conversely, cats were more nocturnal later in the summer and in areas that had high levels of predator activity. Cats were active at all times of the day but tended to be more diurnal in areas closer to city centers or in agricultural settings. Cat abundance and minimum population decreased when forest cover was high within 400 m of the camera. Abundance of cats was higher than all native mesopredators except for raccoon ( Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossum ( Didelphis virginiana). We found that cats were present in 70.8% of yards with an average of three recognizable individuals per yard. In addition, we quantified the daily activity patterns of free-roaming cats and explored how habitat features or predator activity influenced the timing of cat activity. We set 48 wildlife game cameras in residential yards in Arkansas, USA, to evaluate which landscape and yard features influenced cat abundance occurring in yards. In some areas, cats occur in higher densities than native mammalian predators and can have severe effects upon prey populations. Feral and free-roaming domestic cats ( Felis catus) are invasive predators throughout the world.
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