Caracal

Caracal is a slender, graceful cat with a short, dense coat and distinctive, long, black-tufted ears. The body colour varies from reddish-brown to tawny-grey, but occasionally entirely black “melanistic” individuals may occur. The chin, throat and underparts are white, with pale red spots or blotches on the belly and the insides of the legs that vary from very faint to distinct in different individuals. Distinctive narrow black stripes run from the eye to the nose and down the centre of the forehead, and the eyes are yellow-brown, with the pupil contracting to a circle rather than a slit. The caracal produces a range of vocalisations, including miaows, growls, hisses and coughing calls. Possessing tremendous speed and agility, the caracal is a formidable predator capable of tackling prey two to three times its size. Its long, powerful hind legs enable it to make incredible leaps up to three metres high and catch birds in flight by batting them from the air with its large paws. In the past, this ability led to many caracals being trained to hunt game birds for the Persian and Indian royalty. The caracal is also the fastest cat of its size, and uses its speed to run down prey such as hyraxes, hares and small antelopes. This species is superbly adapted for life in arid environments and requires very little water, apparently getting adequate supplies from its food. The caracal has a large range, including much of Africa, and also extending through the Arabian and Anatolian Peninsula, and southwestern and central Asia, as far as Kazakhstan and central India. Within Africa, the caracal is only absent from the central Sahara and areas of dense forest around equatorial West Africa.