Research overview: selection for vulnerable prey classes by felids

An overview of the long-debated tendency of cats to kill the young, old, sick and injured disproportionately, and what it implies for predation impact. If predators chiefly remove individuals with low reproductive value or poor survival prospects, predation may be substantially compensatory, but selectivity varies with predator, prey, season and prey density. This survey synthesizes evidence on condition-dependent vulnerability, how body condition, parasites and age influence which prey cats catch, and the methods, including comparing killed animals with the living population, used to test for selectivity. It connects prey selection to the regulation-versus-limitation question and to wildlife management. The topic addresses a central issue in predator-prey ecology: whether felid predation merely culls the doomed or adds meaningfully to total mortality.