Cat Poop

No, this isn't another post on Marmite. Perhaps I have too much time on my hands, but I have to ask this pressing question. Why do small, domestic cats bury their poop and large, wild cats do not?

Cats bury they poop because they don't want to be found by predators. The dominant cat in a household will sometimes not bury, to asserts his/her dominance. Large wild cats don't really have to worry about any predators (except humans :( ), so I imagine marking their territory is simply more important to them than worrying about hiding it.

Burying your poop is only important if something might use it to find you and eat you. That's part of the reason parent birds will remove the fecal sacs from the nest and carry them far away when they have nestlings, or why momma cats will lick their babies urine up - less scent to attract predators to the babies. An adult large cat doesn't have to worry about hiding from predators, so they can use that to mark territory instead of having to use more subtle cues that proclaim their territory claim to others of the same species while not attracting predators.