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Animal profile

Caracal

Caracal caracal

MammaliaDry savannah, scrub, semi-desert, rocky hills and open woodlandLeast Concern

Field profile

The caracal is a slender, uniformly reddish cat with long black ear tufts and exceptionally powerful hind limbs. It hunts hyrax, rodents, hares and birds across dry open country. Its name comes from a Turkish phrase meaning black ear.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-07-25

Caracal

Caracals take birds out of the air

A caracal can spring from a standstill to strike birds flushing from cover, sometimes knocking down more than one in a leap. The long-standing account of Indian and Persian courts wagering on this behaviour is the origin of the English phrase to put a cat among the pigeons.

Read with evidence →

Caracal | Daily Animal Facts