Research overview: spatial mapping and territory cognition in cats

Navigating and exploiting a home range requires cats to build and use spatial knowledge of their environment. This overview surveys research on how cats learn the layout of their territory, the locations of resources, refuges, and boundaries, and the routes between them, integrating landmark memory, scent marks, and route learning. It discusses how spatial cognition supports efficient hunting, avoidance of rivals and predators, and return to core areas, and how disruption of a familiar environment causes stress. It connects laboratory findings on feline spatial memory to free-ranging behaviour. The topic synthesises how cats represent and move through the spaces they inhabit, in both wild and domestic settings.