Caracal (Caracal caracal) in Africa

CLASS: Mammalia (Mammals), ORDER: Carnivora

FAMILY: Felidae, GENUS: CaracalSPECIES: caracal

ABOUT

Very kitty. With their streamlined, streamlined body, short, reddish colored gold coat, and remarkable markings on the face, caracals are one of the most beautiful of wild cats. As well called the desert caracal, medium-sized caracals have no spots or stripes and have longer legs and a slimmer body than a true lynx. Caracals are the heaviest plus the speediest of the small cats and are the major of the small cats in Africa.

Who have ARE you? The caracal's place in the feline genealogy is somewhat unclear, but it is thought it is closely related to the serval and glowing cat. The caracal is found in habitats that are different from it is feline cousins. Servals and caracals are similar in size, but servals look in wetter habitats, while caracals stick to the drier areas of The african continent and the center East.

The most noticeable feature of a caracal is its long, black hearing tufts, or tassels. Generally there are many theories about the function of the ear tufts. The stanford may help keep lures out of the cat's face or help to camouflage the caracal in tall grass by circumventing up the outline of the cat's head. Nevertheless , the most widely accepted theory is that the cat twitches its headsets tufts as a way to contact fellow caracals.

HABITAT AND DIET

The caracal ranges across The african continent and the center East to India. It really is acutely adapted to the possibly harsh environments of savanna, semi-desert, dry woodland, dry hilly steppe, and free of moisture mountains.

Agile hunters. Almost all cats must eat meats to survive. Caracals search at night but are not picky and eat any animal they can catch, sprinting after mongooses, rodents, hyraxes, dik diks, and monkeys. Occasionally, caracals kill mammals as large as an impala or young kudu and may attack domestic livestock. These types of agile cats have amazing jumping abilities, leaping up to 10 feet (3 meters) to swat a flying bird. They will even leap on a sitting ostrich!

Caracals keep their claws sharp to help them capture their prey. They sometimes get trees and even put their catch in the branches for a later meal. Because of their wide range, caracals may be the top possible predators in their area or there may be a larger carnivore (such as a lion or colored dog) to look away for.

Caracals at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Apple safari Park are fed a fortified meat-based commercial carnivore diet as their basic piece food, along with kitten kibble. A fish and mouse are offered once a week as an unique treat.

FAMILY LIFE

Feline communication. Like the snooze of the small cats and kittens, caracals may purr when content and make a variety of other mews, growls, and hisses to express their mood. Caracals are usually silent, but can cry out like a leopard, if needed. Like the rest of the small cats, caracals may purr when content and make a variety of other mews, growls, and hisses to share their mood. In addition, caracals make a "wah-wah" sound when they seem to be to be uneasy.

Smell is also used to get a message across, and caracals have smell glands between their toes and fingers and their face. The cats can sharpen their claws on a forest and mark their terrain visually and with fragrance at the same time! The scent may provide to keep other caracals away as well as to indicate a willingness to reproduce.

Developing up caracal. Caracals are generally solitary, patrolling and aggressively defending their place. Most caracals come jointly just to mate, and the male will not stay to help boost the young. Caracal mothers make a den in an abandoned aardvark or porcupine burrow or a previously used den. The kittens are given birth to tiny and helpless, with the eyes sealed shut. The eyes open in about 10 days, and the kittens start eating meats if they are 1 to 2 months old. By now, they are able to scamper about and follow their mother to learn hunting skills as well as how to fend for themselves. Their everlasting teeth appear at 4 - 5 months of age, nevertheless they do not strike out on their own until they are about one year old.

AT THE TIERGARTEN

The San Diego Zoo's first caracal pair arrived in 1963. We've had several more since then, including 19 births.

Today, the San Diego Zoo Apple safari Park has a caracal named Kasten who will be trained as an animal legate, meeting guests up close and making television set performances. While using assistance of his trainers, Kasten has recently been reaching and educating the public since 2002; this individual is known by many people for his amazing acrobatics, and seems to enjoy demonstrating his deceptive instinct and amazing rolling talents by stalking and then leaping to capture a stuffed toy on a lure as though it were live prey.

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

Despite their secretive patterns, caracals have been a part of humans' lives for hundreds of years. In India and Persia (now known as Iran), they were used to hunt birds for sport. Owners would have competitions to see how many pigeons their cat could bring down within a try, often reaching 10 or more! The saying "to put a cat among the pigeons" originates from this ancient practice.

In a few areas these days, however, caracals are considered infestations. During lean times, caracals hunt livestock as a fairly easy source of food. Intended for this reason, many ranchers shoot a caracal if they see one. Nevertheless, caracals also keep down the amounts of small herbivores that take on the livestock for grazing areas.

Unfortunately, almost all of the Oriental caracal populations are losing rapidly, and innovative ways need to be found for humans to live with this stealthy kitten.

You can help us bring small cats backside from the brink by supporting the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy. Together we can save and protect wildlife around the globe. Read More