Caracal – desert lynx

The caracal, also known as the desert lynx, is an impressive wild cat with remarkable features and agility. This cat stands out in the arid landscapes of Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia with its tufted ears and sleek body. The caracal is a separate species from true lynxes, despite having the same name. It’s a favorite among wildlife enthusiasts because of its captivating appearance and fascinating behavior.

The caracal’s amazing leaping ability is one of its most notable characteristics. This cat’s remarkable hunting abilities are demonstrated by its ability to leap up to ten feet into the air and capture birds midflight. The caracal is a graceful and formidable predator that combines strength and stealth when it’s stalking through the grass or jumping on its prey. Its ability to adapt to its surroundings is essential to its survival in the hostile desert landscape.

Caracals are primarily solitary animals that prefer to hunt and travel by themselves. They do, however, mark their territories with scent to keep rivals away. Caracals are mysterious creatures that can be difficult to spot in the wild due to their elusive nature. There is a plethora of information regarding the caracal and its place in the ecosystem, regardless of your level of experience with wildlife observation or general curiosity.

Feature	Description
Scientific Name	Caracal caracal
Habitat	Deserts and savannas
Appearance	Short tufted ears, reddish-brown fur
Diet	Small mammals, birds, and rodents
Behavior	Nocturnal and solitary
Unique Trait	Can leap up to 10 feet to catch prey

Scientific classification

• Kingdom: Animalia (animals)
• Type: Chordata (chordates)
• Class: Mammalia (mammals)
• Order: Carnivora (carnivores)
• Family: Felidae (felines)
• Genus: Caracal (caracals)
• Species: Caracal caracal (caracal)

In reference to the Turkic term for the animal, "karrah-kulak" or "kara-kulak," which denotes a cat with black ears, Buffon selected the name "caracal" in 1761. This cat is known as "rooikat," or "red cat," in Afrikaans, a dialect of the Dutch language spoken throughout Africa. The caracal is also known as the steppe, desert, or African lynx.

Varieties

The caracal has nine subspecies:

• West African caracal (Caracal caracal poecilictis) – found in Central and West Africa, Senegal, Nigeria;
• Indian caracal (Caracal caracal schmitzi) – lives in Western Asia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and India;
• Common Caracal (Caracal caracal caracal) – found in Central and South Africa;
• Gaboon Caracal (Caracal caracal lucani) – found in Gabon, Congo, Angola;
• Namibian Caracal (Caracal caracal damarensis) – lives in Namibia;
• North African Caracal (Caracal caracal algira) – lives in North Africa;
• Nubian Caracal (Caracal caracal nubica) – found in Ethiopia and Sudan;
• Transvaal Caracal (Caracal caracal limpoensis) – found in Botswana and northern South Africa;
• Turkmenian caracal (Caracal caracal michaelis) – lives in Turkmenistan.

Origin

The caracal was once thought to be a lynx, but research has since shown that it is actually a member of a much older lineage that split off from the cat ancestry more than a million years before the lynx appeared.

Phylogenetic analysis revealed that when their ancestor arrived in Africa between 8.5 and 5.6 million years ago, the African golden cat, serval, and caracal split off from other felines. It is estimated that the serval and golden cat split from the caracal clade 5.4 million years and 1.9 million years ago, respectively. Combinations of the coat pattern and coloration, body size, ear shape, and tail pattern, color, and set are crucial in differentiating between these species.

Range of distribution

Geographical distribution

One of the most widespread species of carnivores still in existence, the caracal ranges from the southernmost point of Africa, north to the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, and Turkey, east to central India, and north to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Its historical range has only decreased in the periphery, where the caracal has experienced considerable declines. The caracal was extensively eradicated in regions of North and West Africa in particular, where there was a high rate of conversion of pasture land to livestock areas. According to experts, it has shrunk to 37.7% of its former range. But the steppe lynx is most common in Namibia and South Africa, where its range is growing, perhaps as a result of farmers wiping out the caracal’s rival, the black-backed jackal. As a result of the severe winters and the Himalayas acting as a natural barrier to keep the predator from migrating further north, these cats are still unevenly distributed throughout Asia.

Habitat

The caracal lives in a vast range of environments, from sea level to 3,300 meters above sea level. It does, however, favor locations that are lower than 1,200 meters in elevation.

The steppe lynx inhabits arid mountain ranges, dry forests, savannas, shrublands, hilly steppes, and the margins of sizable sandy areas. It is most frequently found in dense vegetation on rocky slopes and in coastal habitats where rodent populations are high, especially in arid or semi-arid areas.

An image by Justin Hawthorne

When hunting, the caracal uses trees for cover and vegetation for cover. During the day, it prefers denser vegetation and rock crevices, and during the night, it prefers open areas. On hot days, vegetation provides the predator with much-needed shade for resting.

Steppe lynxes on the African continent typically stay away from open sandy deserts and equatorial rainforests. The caracal prefers the drier parts of India, Central Asia, and Southwest Asia in Asia.

Home range

The availability of prey, the type of habitat, and the intensity of human persecution all affect the overall population density. According to studies, there are fewer people in an area the drier it is. In Western India’s semi-arid habitats, there are roughly 4-5 individuals per 100 square kilometers. The estimated density across all of South Africa is 23–47 people per 100 square kilometers. However, there are only 1.7 people living for every 100 square kilometers in Turkey’s Beydaglari Mountains.

Males’ home ranges are larger and partly overlap multiple females’ territories. According to radio telemetry studies, adult males’ home ranges in a well-watered coastal protected area in South Africa are 31–65 sq. km, while females’ home ranges are 4–31 kV. km.

The size of the home area is also influenced by reproductive status. The habitats of females are typically reduced by two to three times when they are raising cubs.

Characteristic features

Anatomical features

Caracal: A medium-sized, slender cat with long ear combs and a short tail; no other African cat has these unique ear combs.

CHANDLER CRUTTENDEN is pictured.

The head is prominent and somewhat angular. The eyes can occasionally have a blue tint, but they are typically bright green or yellow. Even with the tassels, which add up to half the ear’s length, large pointed ears can reach a length of 80 mm. These prominent ear tufts have been implicated in intraspecific communication.

While most have fluffy paws, some, particularly those from Turkey’s Karakum Desert, have stiff bristles growing under their paws. In more arid regions, relatively large paws with hard protective hairs on the underside can be helpful for moving over soft substrates like sand and for providing shade from intense midday heat.

Adults have four pads on both their front and back paws. The caracal’s powerful hind limbs enable it to leap vertically to heights of over three meters and lengths of up to 4.5 meters. The fifth toe on the front paw is a powerful dew claw that is utilized for hunting.

Coloration

In southern Africa, the body color is consistently reddish-brown, but in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, it can be sandy. The insides of the legs are pale, and the lower abdomen is cream colored with brown or orange spots. A definite dark line that extends down the nose and along the tear line from top to bottom defines the eyes. Most likely, this is a sun protection adaptation. The upper lip, chin, throat, and eye region are all covered in white fur.

The color of females varies slightly within their species, with lighter colors generally. Animals from areas with low rainfall have a tendency to weigh less than those from areas with heavy rainfall. Melanistic Black people have been documented in Uganda and Kenya.

Depending on the season, the guard hairs’ 15–30 mm length and coating thickness change to effectively protect against extremely high or low temperatures.

Size

The caracal is a medium-sized cat, with a head and body length of 61-106 cm. The largest individuals live in South Africa, and the smallest live in Israel and the Sahara Desert. The hind limbs are set slightly higher than the forelimbs, and the shoulder height is about 46 cm. The caracal has a relatively short (18-34 cm) stout tail compared to most cats, which is about one third of the length of the body and hangs straight down. The legs are typically 50-60 mm long and 40-50 mm wide. Weight varies from 5.8 to 22 kg depending on the geographical location. Adult males can weigh an average of 12.7 kg, while females weigh 10.1 kg.

• Body length: 75-106 cm (males), 61-102 cm (females)
• Tail length: 23-34 cm (males), 19.5-33 cm (females)
• Height at the shoulder: 40-50 cm
• Body weight: 8-20 kg (males), 6.2-15.9 cm (females)

Feeding habits

Diet

The caracal hunts a broad range of species, primarily antelopes, but it also consumes birds, small mammals like hares, jerboas, gophers, hedgehogs, hyraxes, and porcupines. Predators occasionally include foxes, ostriches, mongooses, insects, and reptiles in their diet. The availability of prey and the caracal’s geographic range have a significant impact on its diet.

Justin Ponder in picture

The predator may occasionally hunt larger prey, such as adult gazelles and springboks. Prey that is heavier than the caracal regularly kills it twice or more. Predation by livestock is the primary cause of conflicts with people. Reports of this have been made across the caracal’s range, particularly in southern Africa. Nine to thirty-five percent of predation on small livestock (goats, sheep) and eleven percent of predation on cattle calves (cows) are thought to be caused by steppe lynx.

One kilogram of food is consumed on average each day. The predator can store any leftover food in a dense bush or a tree for later use. The caracal will seldom eat carrion. Similar to an animal that is hyperpisky (eats mostly meat), it does not require a lot of water to survive.

Hunting tactics

Depending on the size of the harvest, the caracal will stalk and attack with a lethal bite to the back of the neck or throat. This is typical feline hunting behavior. A bite to the back of the neck kills small and medium-sized production, while a bite to the throat kills larger victims.

The caracal is regarded as the swiftest member of its size-group of cats and is capable of pursuing its victim over short distances. The desert lynx is renowned for its remarkable ability to capture birds, leaping to great heights and simultaneously taking down multiple birds’ front paws.

Life

An image by Christiaan Viljoen

Despite having a mostly nocturnal lifestyle, Crucians’ activity levels are bimodal and are determined by the outside temperature rather than the time of day. Generally speaking, movement picks up speed at night. This predator is more active every day on chilly, overcast days, and it prefers temperatures under 20 °C. Every day, males travel 5–15 km, while females travel 2.5–10 km.

Caracals prefer to be alone, and it is rare to see two adults or females with their young together.

After urinating, males exhibit dart behavior, moving their paws in the wet sand, or marking, which involves raising their tail vertically and splattering urine on nearby plants and logs. Dart behavior is also exhibited by females, albeit less frequently than by males. To identify their territories, both sexes make "tree scratches."

Communication

Being able to see, hear, and smell well, caracal uses all three of these senses to communicate. It is thought that intraspecific communication occurs through the position of the ears.

The caracal slowly approaches an opponent when it feels threatened, twitching its tail and holding its head below shoulder level with its ears turned outward. It hisses or spits, keeps its mouth open with exposed teeth, and presses its ears back when it feels threatened.

There are several vocalizations that the caracal is known to make, such as growling, meowing, hissing, and purring. Zoologists also mention an adult’s occasionally heard cry that resembles a leopard’s cry. Tiny kittens cry in a high-pitched sound that is similar to a Cape sparrow’s cry.

Steppe lynxes also use scent marking and urine spraying as forms of communication. Scent glands on the cheek, chin, and anal regions enable them to mark their territories and show their receptivity.

Reproduction

Breeding season

The caracal has a promiscuous sexual lifestyle, with females frequently mating with multiple males. Males check the areas where the urine is sprayed for receptivity before approaching females. Men may engage in combat to gain access to women who are willing to mate.

Pictured by Christiaan Viljoen

Male and female calves reach sexual maturity between the ages of 9 and 14 months, respectively. Nonetheless, since dominant older males hold the best territories, males are unlikely to mate until they are 18 to 20 months old. It is improbable that females will mate until they are 14 months old, and they can continue to reproduce for up to 18 years after that.

Males and females travel together for three or four days after selecting a mate, copulating multiple times during this time. In order to cause females to go into estrus, males occasionally kill young kittens and do not assist in raising the young.

The females line the litter with feathers and fur and build their nests in old porcupine burrows, bushes, or cracks in rocks. While wintertime sees a decrease in reproductive activity, there is no official breeding season. Additionally, the availability of prey and the female’s status may affect when babies are born.

Females go through estrous cycles every one to six days. Typically, a single litter is born annually. The average gestation period is between 78 and 81 days. Although up to six kittens may be born, litter sizes typically range from two to four.

Development of the cubs

Blind from birth, kittens open their eyes between six and ten days. The tassels on the tips of the ears will not grow to a length of 10 mm until 30 days after birth, at which point the ears will stand upright on the head.

4-6 months after weaning, the cubs start hunting with their mother, at which point their teeth emerge. Young people can stay with their mother for up to a year or depart their natal den by nine or ten months. While females stay put and may occupy home ranges that partially overlap with their mother’s range, males disperse over territories as far as 60–90 km from their natal ranges.

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Interspecific interactions

Documentary evidence indicates that jackals and leopards are the primary competitors of caracals in the competition for resources. Moreover, the eradication of jackals caused the steppe lynx to start spreading throughout Namibia and South Africa. Although their home ranges overlap, servals hardly ever face competition from caracals for resources.

A spotted hyena and a leopard can kill an adult caracal.

Conservation status

Although most of the steppe trotter’s geographic range is unknown in terms of population trends, caracals are listed as "Causing the least concern" on the IUCN Red List. Only in Asia and North Africa are they regarded as rare or endangered; in India, they are virtually extinct.

Despite being legally protected in many nations, poaching for meat or fur, the exotic pet trade, conflicts with farmers, and extensive habitat destruction due to agricultural development or road construction all pose threats to caracal populations.

The caracal, also known as the desert lynx, is an amazing animal that captivates people with its unusual behaviors and eye-catching appearance. It stands out from other wild cats with its tufted ears and sleek body, and its ability to move quickly over uneven ground demonstrates how well-suited it is to life in the desert.

There’s more to this elusive cat than meets the eye. Its remarkable hunting abilities include the ability to leap and capture birds in midair, showcasing its strength as a predator. A caracal’s behavior serves as a reminder of the untainted beauty of nature and the delicate ecosystem’s balance.

It becomes evident from learning more about the caracal’s way of life that these creatures are essential to their surroundings. Retaining the biodiversity of their ecosystems depends on safeguarding their habitats and making sure they are successful in the wild. The caracal evokes reverence and amazement, whether it is in the wild or in conversation, serving as a constant reminder of nature’s greatest marvel.

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