Research overview: home ranges and territoriality in domestic cats

Free-ranging domestic cats maintain home ranges whose size and overlap depend on sex, reproductive status, food distribution, and population density. This overview surveys tracking studies showing that males typically range more widely than females, that ranges overlap with timesharing of contested areas, and that core areas are defended more strongly than peripheries. It discusses how scent marking and visual signals allow cats to space themselves and minimise direct conflict, and how provisioning compresses ranges. The topic connects individual spacing behaviour to the broader social organisation of cats and to their ecological footprint as predators across urban and rural landscapes.