Cats Cover Their Feces? Depends on Gender

I noticed that my male cat sometimes covers his feces in the litter box, but usually does not. The instinct to bury feces seems to be a gender-based trait in cats. Females bury their feces to protect their young from predators and parasites, whereas males are more likely to leave their poop exposed to mark territory. H. Ellen Whiteley, DVM, writes in her 2002 book Understanding and Training Your Cat or Kitten:

“In ancient days a mother cat protected herself and her offspring by burying feces, thus hiding their presence from predators and from rodents, their intended prey. This behavior also helped reduce the ingestion of parasite eggs spread through excrement. . . . in some cases, cats leave the fecal deposit exposed for other cats to see or smell. It’s another way of claiming territory, and males indulge in this kind of marking more often than females. I know of one cat family where the male cat uses the litter box but does not bury his feces. His female littermate follows him to the box, sits quietly nearby while he does his business and leaves the box, and then reaches over the side of the box with her paw to cover the feces with litter.”