Jeff A. Horn is the first author of a 2011 study of free-roaming cats using wildlife radio telemetry and collar-mounted activity sensors. The team compared 11 owned and 16 unowned cats near Champaign-Urbana, measuring home range, use of the surrounding landscape and activity over time.[ref]
Home Range, Habitat Use, and Activity Patterns of Free-Roaming Domestic Cats by Jeff A. Horn and others. Abstract and Methods; Journal of Wildlife Management 75, 1177–1185, 2011
The owned cats had smaller home ranges, while the unowned group was more nocturnal and more active overall. Location and activity are different measurements: an animal can occupy a small area yet move frequently within it. Pairing the sensors therefore gave a richer description than either measurement alone. The observed owned/unowned comparison was not a randomized assignment of care, and the operational unowned category should not automatically be equated with every definition of a feral animal.[ref]
Home Range, Habitat Use, and Activity Patterns of Free-Roaming Domestic Cats by Jeff A. Horn and others. Abstract: sample groups, home-range and activity findings
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