They prey primarily on birds, rodents and small antelopes. Like most cats, caracals stalk their prey before pouncing on it. In areas of human settlement, these cats sometimes eat poultry. Caracals sometimes store the remains of their prey in the forks of trees or in dense bushes, later returning for further feeding. They are supremely acrobatic and can leap agilely into the air to bring down prey, such as guinea fowl, on the wing. The social system of the caracal is not well understood. They are primarily solitary or live as mated pairs.
Individuals appear to defend territories, which they mark with urine. Caracals appear capable of breeding year round. After a gestation of 69 to 78 days, a female gives birth to one to six kittens, with an average litter size of three. Young nurse for 10 to 25 weeks.
Caracals are mainly active at twilight, but will hunt at night, in hot weather, and during the day in winter. Although currently not threatened, their populations are decreasing. Poultry farmers are not fond of caracals. Caracals' skill at jumping and climbing enables them to exploit poultry as a staple food despite the fences farmers have erected. In Iran and India, caracals have been tamed and used to help hunters. Skip to main content. However, some farmers unfortunately use poison or shoot caracals who try to raid their farms.
As part of our conservation work at Kariega Game Reserve we encourage local farmers to bring caracals to our wilderness area. We then release these animals onto the reserve to find a new territory far away from domestic livestock. In the wilderness caracals are always on the lookout for similar sized or larger predators who may be a threat to them.
Threats may come from other caracals, jackals, hyenas, cheetahs, leopards and lions. Caracals are thought to have been of some religious importance in the ancient Egyptian culture. The caracal or lynx can be seen in many paintings and there are sculptures of them guarding tombs. Caracals have also been found embalmed.
Historians have noted that Chinese emperors used caracals as gifts in the 13th and the 14th centuries. In India and Iran caracals were once tamed and used for hunting small mammals and birds for their owners. In colonial India caracals were put with a flock of pigeons and people would bet on which caracal would kill the largest number of birds. This probably gave rise to the British idiom "to throw the cat among the pigeons" which is used to describe a disturbance caused by an undesirable person in a group.
Were you lucky enough to see a caracal or lynx on your Kariega Game Reserve safari? If so, please send us your photos and videos by connecting with us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and YouTube. If you enjoyed reading this article and would like to receive our Kariega blogs via email, please click here and add your email address.
Call us Directions. Further work is needed on subspecies identification of these cats, like many of the small cats. They have lived up to 19 years in captivity. The actual number of caracal in the wild is unknown. They are considered rare or threatened in Asia and North Africa; widespread in South Africa and hunted as a poultry raider wherever they are found.
Poisoned carcasses are put out by ranchers to kill predators, which kill a variety of carnivores. Caracals are most abundant in South Africa and Namibia, where their range is expanding, possibly due to extirpation of black-backed jackals by farmers.
An additional threat is severe habitat loss, as people move further into their territory, and their prey species are driven out. The Indian subspecies is now thought to be highly endangered. The African population is not protected over most of their range, while the Asian population is protected over half of their range. Your email address will not be published.
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