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| Scientific Name: Caracal caracal |
Size: Head and body 23.5-35.5 inches
(60-90cm);
tail 9-12 inches (23-31cm) |
| Weight: 31-44 pounds (14-20kg) |
| Distribution: Africa, the Middle East,
Saudi Arabia, USSR, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and NW and central India |
| Habitat: Woodland, savanna, open plains,
semidesert, hilly steppe and dry mountain areas. |
| Diet: Birds, rodents, rabbits, mongooses,
small antelope, domestic animals, reptiles and insects. |
| Reproduction: After a gestation period
of about 79 days, female gives birth to 2-3 kittens |
| Status: Least
Concern |
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The name Caracal comes from the Turkish
work karacal or karakulak, meaning "black ear." It used
to be known as the Desert Lynx, Red Lynx, Persian Lynx, or African Lynx.
The Caracal is a lynxlike animal of dry woodlands, grasslands, and scrub, where
it hunts birds, rodents, and small antelopes. A medium-sized cat, it is very fast
in its movements, employing a stalk-and-spring technique with a high-speed climax.
They are particularly efficient at |
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strikiing
down birds as they take flight, leaping high in the air to deliver a powerful
blow with an outstretched paw. The short, dense fur is a uniform pale reddish-brown
with hardly any markings. The Caracal's hind legs are longer than the forelegs,
and this gives a standing caracal the appearance of being tilted forwards. It
has a slender, supple body and a short tail, but its most characteristic feature
is the unusual design of its ears. Several other species have small ear-tufts,
but in the Caracal they are elongated and highly conspicuous. The ears themselves
are already very tall and, with the black tufts of hairs protruding at their tips,
they become a dominant feature. Whenever the Caracal is agitated, it rapidly twitches
its ears - far more than any other feline species - and this frequent mood signal
gives it a communication system that is lacking in other cats. About the size
of a springer spaniel, caracal are the heaviest of the small African cats - they
weigh as much as 44 pounds (20kg).
Like the Cheetah, the Caracal has in the past been trained as a hunting companion
by sportsmen. It has never seriously rivaled the Cheetah in this respect, but
in India some local rulers have kept packs to hunt peafowl, and in Iran they used
to be set against pigeons. Like Cheetahs, they become remarkably tame and cooperative,
compared with other wild cats. |
| CARACAL
PHOTOS |
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