a case study on the caracal ..undergraduate student assignment see other works on you tube;https://youtu.be/_Kd4cd1U8hU

1. OYENGO JOSEPH OTIENO
N15/50074/14
WIEM 342
PRESENTATION
ON
Caracal caracal

2. CARACAL
Introduction
 A caracal is a medium sized wild
cat scientifically known as the
Caracal caracal, and
alternatively referred to as the
gazelle cat, red cat ,Rooikat and
desert lynx. Its name derived
from Turkish word karakulak,
meaning black ear.

3. cont. introduction
 There are about 8 recognized species ;north
Africa caracal, common caracal, Namibian
caracal, Transvaal caracal, Gabon caracal,
Nubian caracal, West Africa caracal and the
Asiatic caracal.

4. Background information
(caracal)
 They were also trained for
hunting in India and Iran .

5. cont. background
In ancient Egypt ,caracal were used for
sports to test their abilities in taking down
birds from flight .i.e. caracal were put in
arenas containing flocks of pigeon and
wages were made as to how many birds the
cat would take down.

6. Characteristics of caracal
 From the name caracal, this
cat has its ears black at the
back ,sand topped with long
black tufts about 1.76inches
long. This makes it resemble
members of the lynx family.

7. Cont. characteristics
 Their coloration is plain uniform short dense
tawny to rufous coat with spots faintly indicated
in whitish underparts; lips ,ears backs and tufts
black ,dark facial markings on cheeks and over
the eye.
 bordered by white fur; new born have light
yellow with relatively distinct spots and markings
already formed.

8. Cont. Characteristics of caracal
 Caracal is the largest and the fastest of
the Africa's small cats. Males weigh up
to 40pounds and females weigh up to
35 pounds.
 Caracal is 16-20 inches long at the
shoulders and 35-39 inches long.
 The hind legs plus hindquarters of the
caracal are more developed than their
forequarters.

9. Cont. characteristics
 They have big feet ,short face with powerful
jaws and long tufted ears.
 The sexually dimorphic females are smaller than
the males mostly in the bodily parameters.
 The eyes appear to be narrowly open due to the
lowered upper eyelid {an adaptation that shields
them from direct suns glare}

10. Characteristics of caracal
The skull of the caracal is high and
rounded ,featuring large auditory
bullae ,well developed supraoccipital
crest normal to the sagittal crest and
strong lower jaw.
The caracal has a total of 30 teeth.

11. Cont. characteristics
The striking canine are up to 2cm long
,heavy and sharp. Enabling caracal to give
that killing bite to their prey.
The caracal lacks the second upper
premolars, and the upper molars are
diminutive.

12. Cont.Characteristics
 Their large paws are similar to those
of the cheetah and consists of four
digits in the hind legs and five digits
in the fore leg.
 The first digit foreleg of the caracal
remains above the ground .the claws
are sharp, retractable and larger but
less curved in the hind leg.

13. Cont. characteristics
 Caracal just like other cats, meows ,growls,
hisses ,spits and purrs.
 Caracal are mainly nocturnal animals but may be
active at twilight and occasionally during the day
though very secretive and easily goes unnoticed.

14. Cont. Characteristics of caracal
The dung of caracal 2cm thick and
elongated with tapered ends ,at times they
are left exposed ,though in most instances
they're always buried .hairs and wool-like
substances of kill are often seen in them
especially when the dung is dry and has
been grinded or broken open

15. Posture and locomotion
 The caracal just like the cheetah is fast over short
distances. Their powerful hindquarters propels them
in long bounds and also enables them to have
remarkable jumping power.
 Caracals are agile climbers and thus ;such
combination of power speed and agility makes
caracal a very formidable predator for its size.

16. Distribution
 Caracals are native to :
 Africa(arid zones and dry
savannas) &North Africa
 The middle east
 Central Asia through near east to
India
 Russia's karakum desert

17. Cont. Distribution
 The geographical range of caracal is broad and extends across
Africa to central and south west asia.it occurs from Africa to
turkey through the Arabian peninsula and the middle east to
Turkmenistan and Northwest India.
 In Africa ,caracal are absent from tropical forest western and
central Africa and the desert of Namibian and central Sahara.
 Though the species has locally been extirpated from areas with
high human pressure / habitat change and on the edge of its range
it suffered substantial habitat loss, especially in west Africa and
central Africa ,this species is till very common in South Africa
and thought to be stable..

18. Ecology
 Caracal can live in the drier savanna and woodland regions of
sub-Saharan Africa ,they prefer the more scrubby arid desert and
also the montane forest but not found in the tropical rain forests.
 The caracals are predominantly nocturnal ,travelling up to 20km
per night in search of food.
 They sleep in burrows ,rock crevices or thick bush ,sometimes in
trees and only venture into the open grasslands for cover .
 Caracals are totally absent from true desert and usually
associated with some form of vegetation cover.

19. Ecology
 Caracal prey mainly on small-medium sized mammals from
small murids to antelope up to approximate of 50 kg but they’ll
also take birds ,reptiles ,invertebrates, fish and small plant
matter .Though their diets are dominated by rodents.
 Caracal occasionally prey on livestock.ie sheep, goats and
poultry.
 Home ranges of the males are larger than those of the females
averaging ranges being 5.1-48km2 and 3.9-26.7km2
respectively{in the South African ranchlands}

20. Ecology
 Caracal isn’t a migrant and thus its predatory
niche differ from that of other cats e.g. the serval
,however their territories overlap extensively.
 Grasses and grapes are occasionally taken to
clear their immune system and stomach of
parasites.
 At times though not so frequent ,the caracal eats
lizards, snakes and insects .The caracal rarely
attacks humans but it’s notorious for attacking
livestock.

21. Social organization of caracal
 Caracal is a solitary cat and
also territorial .
 Social interaction are only
limited to periods of mating
with the exception of
mothers with kittens.

22. Predatory behavior of caracal
 Just like the big cats ,the caracal is also able to kill
prey twice its weight for example ,medium sized
antelopes by simply employing a similar /routinely
technique of suffocation with a throat bite.
 Caracal takes on sleeping birds from their perches
and also ground birds. Examples of such birds
include ;martial and tawny eagles other birds on the
ground up to he size of the Kori bustard, sand
grouse dove and pigeon . The guinea fowl is also
not exempted from this menu.

23. Predatory behavior of caracal
 Due to the caracals magnificent jumping abilities
and speed ,they are able to take down a number
birds on flight at one particular moment.
 Caracals also frequently hunt antelopes, hares
and foxes, much like the African cheetah.

24. Predatory behavior of caracal
 When consuming birds ,caracals will pluck the feathers
before eating (for the larger ones),while the smaller ones
are eaten as a whole.
 Other prey include the rodents, hare ,small antelopes
,carrion and reptiles including the poisonous snakes
 Caracal avoid eating the hairs by shearing meat neatly
from the skin.
 Potions of skull and occasionally a lower leg are often left
uneaten.

25. Cont. Predatory behavior of caracal
 New grass or fruits are also sometimes
eaten ,probably for the moisture content if
not for reasons of stomach upset .
 A kill is often dragged into dense cover
where it can be eaten without disturbance.
Large prey animals are covered with grass
after the initial feeding, to be consumed
later.

26. Social behavior of the caracal
 As with other desert animals ,caracal sight and hearing is
very good.
 Other forms in which the caracal communicate include:
 Visual communication.
 Vocal communication.
 Olfactory communication.
 Communication

27. Visual communication
 The remarkably conspicuous ,white on the inside and the
black on the outside ,with tufts ,so that all twists ,turn and
flicks can be clearly noted. The white fur bordering the
caracal black lips repeat the same basic pattern ,emphasizing
facial expressions and bored teeth.
 Together , all those markings make an excellent visual
communication system enabling any two caracal that spot
each other be seen to be interacting i.e. they’ll sit and look
round in a typical cat fashion ,these movements are further
exaggerated and ritualized as a side to side head flagging
,during which the ears flicker rapidly.

28. Vocal communication and olfactory
communication
Vocal communication.
 Vocalizations are few ,mainly growls and spits in
anger, and loud barking sound used to call their
partners .Just like most other cats ,the caracal
meows ,hisses, purrs, screams and at times they'll do
loud coughing calls (in mating)
Olfactory communication
 Caracals have a moderate sense of smell and they’ll
urine-mark grass tufts, rocks and trees.

29. Reproduction and sexual behavior
 Births are recorded throughout the years except that
during the summers they experience their birth peaks.
 Successful mating takes place at the age of 12-15
months and breeding goes throughout the year.
 Estrus takes place one to three days long and recurs
until conception occurs
 Females in estrus show a spike in urine marking and
form temporary pairs with males

30. Reproduction and sexual behavior
 Copulation lasts an average of nearly 4 minutes and begins
with the male smelling the areas urine-marked by the female,
who then roles on the ground .After which the male mounts
onto the female. The two separate after copulation, each
grooming itself.
 Gestation lasts nearly 2-3 months(62-81days)
 A litter of 1-6 kitten is thereafter born. The probable peak
ranging between October to February in dense vegetation,
deserted burrows of other animals e.g. porcupines and
aardvark.

31. Parent offspring behavior
 The female caracal is usually seen preparing the
nest and is often spotted eating a day before
littering ,just before birth.
 The kittens are born with eyes and ears shut and
the claws non-retractable .these opens later and
becomes normal after 10 days. . Their coats
resembles that of adults, though the abdomen is
spotted

32. Cont. Parent offspring behavior
 The ear becomes erect and claws retractable at
about 3 to 4 weeks after birth.at such times ,the
kitten also start to roam their birthplace and also
playing among themselves by the fifth to sixth
week.
 All milk teeth appear in 50days, and permanent
dentition is completed in ten months. Juvenile begin
dispersing at 9-10months, though few females stay
back with their mother.

33. Conservation status
 The actual population of caracal is unknown.
 They are considered rare or threatened in Asia and North
Africa ,widespread in Southern Africa.
 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.

34. Cont. Conservation status
 Caracal is listed as least concern by the IUCN red list
but classified as threatened in North Africa and as
critically endangered in morocco .In Egypt it’s
considered to be rare but its most abundant in South
Africa and Namibia, where their range is expanding,
possibly due to extirpation of black-backed jackals by
farmers.
 Note: The average lifespan of a caracal in captivity is
nearly sixteen years

35. Threats facing caracal
 The main and most common threat is habitat
destruction.
 Hunting also proves to be threat to caracal, that is;
the species is often seen as a pest due to occasional
livestock predation and poultry raiding mainly in
semi-arid regions of southern Africa
 Some secondary data states that in the Karoo region
(South Africa) alone 2,219 caracals were killed per
year because of central operations.in 1981, a total of
2,800 individuals were killed in Namibia.

36. Threats facing caracal
 Recreational hunting with days, especially in south
Africa ,hunting for skin and bush meat in west and
Central Africa are some of the hunting missions that
drastically affect caracal not forgetting the above
listed hunting /killing as a form of control operation
against livestock attack by caracals.
 Caracals are also killed by other carnivores i.e. lions,
hyenas and leopards when ranges overlap.
 NOTE: It’s also noted that little is known and has
been published regarding caracals spatial and
conservation ecology.

37. Conservation efforts and protection
status
 Caracal populations for those in Africa are included into
appendix II of CITES and thus in Asia being in Appendix I.
 Despite the fact that caracal isn’t legally protected in most of
its ranges. Hunting isn’t allowed in; Angola, Benin ,Burkina
Faso,Cameroon,Ethiopia,Kenya,Morocco,Tajikistan,Turkmenis
tan,Mauritania,Mozambique,Nigeria,Zaire,Afghanistan,Algeria
,Pakistan,Tunisia,Uzbekistan,India,Iran,Israel,Jordan,Kazakhst
an,Lebanon,Syria,turkey.

38. Conservation efforts and protection
status
 Hunting and trade is regulated in; Botswana, central
Africa republic, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia.
 No legal protection in; Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia,
guinea Bissau, ivory coast, Lesotho, Malawi ,Mali,
Namibia, Niger, Rwanda ,south Africa ,Sudan,
Swaziland, Togo, Uganda Zimbabwe, Oman ,Saudi
Arabia, united Arab emirates.

39. Conservation efforts and protection status
Note:
 In Namibia and South Africa, caracal is
termed as a problem animal and thus
farmers are allowed to kill the species
without any restrictions.
 Caracal has an extremely adaptable
behavior that enables them to recolonize
vacant areas after local extirpation.

40. Conservation efforts and protection status
 The species also adjusts well to life in settled
areas.
 Caracal can thus be a good biological pest
controller for example; the hyrax populations.
 And can thus be embraced/considered
beneficial to crop farmers.

41. Recommendation
 From the distribution of caracal, relocation of the caracals can be
done by taking the excess caracal from areas like the South Africa
(where they are considered as problem animal) and then
redistributing/relocating them to the Northern Africa to enhance
their abundance and balance in population within their
ancient/historical habitats.
 More research should also be done on the caracal to help other
scientists and conservationists access more of secondary data that
helps in understanding caracals in depth.

42. Recommendation
 Human beings should also be well trained on how to coexist with
the caracal and on the need to take part in caracal conservation
and their habitat protection.
 People who practice more of livestock keeping should be
discouraged from establishing livestock ranches with less
security in areas that boarder caracal habitats and rather they
should be encouraged to embrace crop cultivation hence they’ll
have an opportunity of gaining from caracal in terms of pest
eradication e.g. rodents and birds especially in rice fields and
wheat farms.

43. Recommendation
 Caracal should be introduced into most of the parks,
animal orphanages and sanctuaries where students
and both the domestic /foreign tourists can easily
access them and get information about them
ultimately encouraging people to see the aesthetic
beauty that comes with caracal.
 The existing rules and regulations pertaining to
conservation of caracals should be reviewed and
new laws formulated to back the existing ones
before caracal begin degrading from ranking of least
concern to probably threatened or endangered.

44. CONCLUSION
 Caracal is one of the largest small cats, it’s the best
when it comes to adaptability to new environments
and thus relocation/redistribution can result to a
positive outcome. Being that research on caracal is
shallow in some historical locations like the Asian
areas, researchers should be encouraged to engage
more in studying this wild cat.
 Considering that the black-backed jackal was
extirpated in most areas of south Africa due to
hunting / killings then the caracal might actually
not be safe in its current conservation ranking by
IUCN as least concern.

45. Thanks for watching
THE END