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Behold the Stunning Blue-eyed Wild Caracal!
Nature’s phenomenal agile cat!
What type of cat is this & where does it live?
This beauty is a wild cat native to Africa - south of the Sahara, the Middle East, Central Asia, the arid regions of Pakistan, & Northwestern India.
The cat is essentially an inhabitant of desert areas.
Its scientific name, Felis caracal, was used by the German Naturalist Johann C. D. von Schreber in 1776 when he described a caracal skin found at the Cape of Good Hope.
The literature reveals that the noun Caracal originated from the Turkish word, ‘karakulak’ meaning, black ear tufts.
Characteristics:
The caracal is a slender, robust, medium-sized cat with long legs.
It can leap higher than 12ft and catch birds in midair! (view video.)
The cat sports a reddish-tan soft, short-hair coat. The ear-tips display 4.5 cm long tufts.
Facial features include two black stripes from the forehead to the nose & a black outline around its mouth. There are white patches surrounding the eyes & the mouth.
The cat has long canine teeth.
The male caracal’s body length measures 31 to 43 inches. Its tan-bushy tail is 8 to 13 inches long.
The caracal is sexually dimorphic. Males range in weight between 16 & 42lbs, while the females range between 15 and 35lbs.
Their power & agility allow them to traverse rough mountainous terrain. They are the fastest of the small cats. They can run up to 50mph!
The caracal is often confused with;
- A lynx, as both cats have tufted ears, but the lynx species are spotted & blotched, while the caracal shows no such coat markings.
