Accuracy assessment of spatial organization and activity of indoor cats using a system based on ultrawide band technology

The study of mammalian societies and other similar social groups requires identification of group members and documentation of their spatial organization. Ultrawide band technology is a pioneering research technique that allows real-time automatic recording of the location of each group member. Cats living in a group were equipped with active transponders on their collars over a 2-week period. Cats traveled on average 965 ± 360 m per day, spending 30% ± 7% of their time moving. Their activity was characterized by 4 peaks of activity: 2 in the morning, another in the midafternoon, and the last at sunset. They spent most of their time in resting places, only 1 hour in the feeding area and a few minutes in the drinking and elimination areas. They interacted on average 53 ± 9 times with each other during the 24 hours they spent together per day and 32 ± 7 times with humans. This approach provides a new system to monitor groups of animals more accurately than Global Positioning System technology in indoor environments and in a much more convenient way than passive radiofrequency identification.