Is the caracal a lynx?

No, it is in its own genus with the African golden cat

What is unusual about a caracal’s teeth?

A tiny upper premolar is usually missing

Caracal

Caracal caracal

The caracal (Caracal caracal) is a slender, medium-sized wild cat of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and India, known for its long black ear tufts and plain tawny to brick-red coat. It hunts mostly at night in dry savanna, scrub and hills, and is famous for leaping into the air to knock down birds. Despite its old name “desert lynx”, its closest relatives are the African golden cat and the serval.

Also known as Rooikat (Afrikaans: “red cat”), Caracal lynx, African lynx

Caracal abilities

≈3 m reported leap
From a crouch, a caracal can spring straight up about 3 m and knock a bird out of the air with its front paws.
- The species account says it can leap 3 m or more. An older Russian account says up to 4 m; the IUCN Cat Specialist Group says “two metres or more”. We found no modern measurement.
- It can grab birds as they take off, or knock several out of the air at once.
- Its hips sit higher than its shoulders, on long, muscular back legs.
How high is that?
Caracal leap (reported)≈3 m
Caracal shoulder height≈46 cm
About 6½ times its own shoulder height.
Sources [2, 4, 5, 7]
≈2× its own weight in prey
For its size, a caracal is a mighty hunter: it can kill prey about twice its own weight, such as a springbok.
- Weighing about 8–20 kg, it regularly kills prey more than twice its body mass.
- Lab tests found its fast muscle fibres produce about 3 times the power of trained human cyclists’ fibres.
- Small prey gets a bite to the back of the neck; big prey like antelope gets a throat bite.
Power from one fast muscle fibre
Caracal and lion fibres≈29–30
Trained human cyclists4–11
Single fibres tested in the lab at 12 °C (Kohn & Noakes 2013).
Sources [2, 4, 7, 8]
5–15 km a male may roam in a day
Like most cats, it hunts by ambush: it creeps as close as it can under cover, then pounces or makes a short dash.
- It mostly hunts from dusk to dawn, and on hot days rests under shrubs or in rock crevices.
- In Israel, males roamed 5–15 km a day and females 2.5–10 km.
- Near Cape Town, GPS collars showed caracals avoid brightly lit streets when hunting.
- In Israel’s Arava desert, caracals keep to dry creek beds, where Cape hares, their main prey there, are easiest to find.
Sources [2, 7, 13, 14]
4–5 cm black ear tuftsStill debated
Those long black tufts are the caracal’s trademark, but scientists still don’t know what they are for.
- The favourite idea: caracals flick and twitch their tufted ears to signal to each other.
- Other guesses are that tufts keep flies off the face or help hide the outline of the head in tall grass.
- None of these ideas has been tested. And caracals spend most of their lives alone, which would limit how often tuft signals get used.
Sources [2, 3, 4, 5]
Unmeasured hearing range
Big ears and large ear chambers in the skull suggest sharp hearing. Caracals can find small prey by sound alone.
- Researchers say vision and hearing are a caracal’s strongest senses.
- We found no study that has measured which sounds a caracal can hear, so there is no hearing chart for it yet.
- Young people can hear up to about 20,000 Hz, and that limit drops with age.
Sources [2, 3, 15, 16]
2nd chance for light to hit the eye
Shine a torch at night and a caracal’s eyes glow. A mirror-like layer behind the retina bounces light back through it.
- This layer, the tapetum lucidum, gives light-sensing cells a second chance to catch light, so the cat sees better in the dark.
- Caracals mostly hunt at night. In Abu Dhabi, one was most active on the darkest, new-moon nights.
- Its large eye sockets point to keen eyesight.
Sources [2, 6, 17]
6+ kinds of call
Caracals purr like house cats, but also growl, hiss, bark, chirrup and meow.
- Contact calls are mostly barks, chirrups and meows.
- Adults give a loud coughing call, a bit like a leopard’s, in the mating season.
- Young kittens make a shrill call that sounds like a Cape sparrow.
Sources [2, 5, 7]

Tap a pin on the model or a part below.

Black backs of the ears
- Large, triangular ears, black on the back. They give the caracal its name, from Turkish karakulak, “black ear”.
- Large ear chambers in the skull (the auditory bullae) point to keen hearing, and caracals can find small prey by sound alone.
- When threatened, a caracal flicks, twists and turns its ears.
Sources [1, 2, 3]
4–5 cm black tufts
- Each ear ends in a tuft of black hairs about 4–5 cm long.
- No other African cat has distinct ear tufts.
- Nobody knows for sure what the tufts are for. The favourite idea is signalling to other caracals.
- Kittens are born with ears lying flat. They stand up at about a month, when the tufts are only about 1 cm long.
Sources [2, 3, 4, 5]
- Usually bright green or yellow, sometimes blue. Kittens have blue-tinted eyes.
- A dark line runs from above each eye down beside the nose. Scientists think these dark “tear lines” may cut the glare of the sun.
- Like other cats, caracals have a mirror-like layer at the back of the eye that makes their eyes shine in torchlight.
Sources [2, 3, 6]
- Black marks on the whisker pads and above the eyes, with white fur on the chin, throat and around the eyes.
- Its strongly patterned face is thought to help caracals “talk” to each other with expressions.
- Scent glands on its cheeks and chin help it leave smell messages for other caracals.
Sources [2, 3, 7]
28–30 teeth
- The standard cat set is 30 teeth, but in caracals a tiny upper premolar is usually missing: only 8 of 100 skulls in one sample had it.
- Canines up to about 2 cm long, backed by strong jaw muscles.
- Small prey is killed with a bite to the back of the neck, bigger prey with a bite to the throat.
- It plucks the feathers off bigger birds before eating them.
Sources [2, 7]
5–6 cm paw length
- Paws are about 5–6 cm long, with stiff hairs between the pads that help it walk on hot, loose sand.
- A sturdy dewclaw on each front paw is used in hunting.
- Caracals scratch trees to sharpen their claws, which also leaves scent and marks for other caracals.
Sources [2, 4, 5]
≈3 m reported leap
- Long, muscular back legs set the hips slightly higher than the shoulders (about 46 cm).
- They launch the caracal about 3 m into the air from a sitting start, high enough to swat birds.
- In lab tests, a caracal’s fast muscle fibres produced about 3 times as much power for their size as those of trained human cyclists.
Sources [2, 5, 7, 8]
18–34 cm tail
- About a third of its head-and-body length, which is short for a cat.
- Sandy-red to golden all the way to the tip, and it hangs nearly straight down.
- The Eurasian lynx and the African golden cat, its closest relative, both have black-tipped tails.
Sources [2, 4, 9]
- Plain, with no spots or stripes on the back: golden to brick red, which gives it the Afrikaans name rooikat, “red cat”.
- Caracals from dry, low-rainfall areas tend to be paler. Females are often lighter than males.
- The cream belly has small orange or brown spots.
- Black (melanistic) caracals have been recorded, but they are extremely rare.
Sources [2, 3, 4]
≈1 kg of food a day
- A wild caracal eats about 1 kg of food a day.
- As a meat-only hunter it gets much of the water it needs from its prey, so it can live in dry places.
- Scientists have recorded 151 different prey species across its range.
- Near Cape Town, some caracals hunt along the coast, where about a third of their food is seabirds, even endangered African penguins.
Sources [2, 4, 10, 11, 12]

Real caracals

Photos from Wikimedia Commons. Four of them can repaint the 3D model.

Ear tufts up close, Mountain Zebra National Park, South AfricaPhoto: Leo za1, CC BY-SA 3.0
TawnySandy to golden-tawny, with no spots on the back. Caracals from dry, low-rainfall areas tend to be the palest.Common in deserts and dry scrubA pale tawny caracal on open ground. Photo: Justin Ponder, CC BY 4.0
Brick red (rooikat)A rich reddish-brown coat. In southern Africa caracals are a uniform reddish brown, hence the Afrikaans name rooikat, “red cat”.Typical of southern AfricaA brick-red caracal in dry scrub. Photo: Christiaan Viljoen, CC BY 4.0
Resting in tall grass, tufts upPhoto: Gopal Vijayaraghavan, CC BY 2.0
On the move in dry grass, KenyaPhoto: Nina R, CC BY 2.0
Sitting up: the tail is about a third of its body lengthPhoto: Christiaan Viljoen, CC BY 4.0
Mouth wide open, showing its long canines (zoo animal)Photo: Rolf Dietrich Brecher, CC BY 2.0
Mother with kittenKittens have short tufts, blue-tinted eyes and ears that only stand up at about a month old.Litters of 1–6, usually 2–3Mother and kitten at Copenhagen Zoo. Photo: Clipartqueen, CC0
Mother with kittenKittens have short tufts, blue-tinted eyes and ears that only stand up at about a month old.Litters of 1–6, usually 2–3A kitten’s tufts are still short (Hamerton Zoo Park, UK). Photo: Airwolfhound, CC BY-SA 2.0

Caracal by the numbers

Measured by scientists, zoos and conservation groups, with comparisons you can picture.

Weight: 8–20 kg; adult males; females 6–16 kg; It can kill prey about twice its weight⁠[2, 5, 4]
Length: 61–106 cm; head and body, plus an 18–34 cm tail⁠[2]
Height: ≈46 cm; at the shoulder; the hips sit a little higher⁠[2, 5]
Leap: ≈3 m; reported, to knock down birds; Leap3 mIts shoulder height0.46 m; ≈6½× its own shoulder height⁠[2, 5, 7]
Ear tufts: 4–5 cm; black hair on each ear tip⁠[4, 2]
Menu: 151; prey species recorded across its range⁠[10]
Food: ≈1 kg; eaten per day in the wild⁠[2]
Home range: 7–1,116 km²; from an average female in South Africa’s Western Cape to one male in Saudi Arabia⁠[2, 4]
Litter: 1–6; kittens, usually 2–3, after 68–81 days⁠[2, 5, 3]
Lifespan: ≈10–12 yrs; in the wild; record 20.3 years in a zoo⁠[2, 5, 18]

Watch

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Caracal myths and facts

Tap Myth or Fact for each claim, then check the answer.

0 of 8 answered

“A caracal is a kind of lynx.”
“Caracals make good pets.”
“Caracals can knock flying birds out of the air.”
“Caracals can sprint at 80 km/h.”
“A caracal’s ear tufts work like antennae to help it hear.”
“The name “caracal” means “black ear”.”
“Caracals only live in Africa.”
“Caracals sometimes stash food in trees.”

Caracal records

Superlatives and record holders, each checked against its source.

Africa’s biggest small cat
6–18 kg
Caracal
the largest of Africa’s “small cats”⁠[4, 5]
Highest reported leap
≥3 m
Caracal
to knock down birds; an older account says up to 4 m⁠[2]
Prey on record
151 species
Caracal
found in 63 studies from 26 countries (1842–2021)⁠[10]
Biggest home range
1,116 km²
A male in Saudi Arabia
used in winter; females in South Africa can live in about 7 km²⁠[2, 4]
Highest home
3,300 m
Caracals in Ethiopia and Lesotho
above sea level, though one study found they prefer ground below about 1,200 m⁠[2, 4]
Oldest known caracal
20.3 yrs
A wild-born female in captivity
wild caracals live about 10–12 years⁠[18, 2]
Oldest mum
18 yrs
A female caracal
age at which one female gave birth⁠[4]

Caracals and people: a history

From sacred cat to royal hunting partner, pest and protected species.

Ancient Egypt
A sacred cat
Egyptians showed caracals in wall paintings and bronze figures and mummified some of them.⁠[7, 2]
Persia and India
A bird-hunting partner
Royal hunters in Iran, India, Egypt and Syria trained caracals to catch birds, hares and small antelope. In pigeon contests, a caracal reportedly knocked down 10 or more birds in one go.⁠[2, 7, 5, 4]
Mughal India
An emperor’s hunting cat
With the cheetah, the caracal was one of only two cats used by people for hunting. Emperor Akbar helped make it famous, and royal books on caring for cheetahs mentioned caracals too.⁠[22]
1616
Oldest Indian record
Researchers collected 134 reports of caracals in India; the earliest dates from 1616.⁠[23]
1761
A name from Turkish
French naturalist Buffon called it caracal, after the Turkish karakulak, “black ear”.⁠[2, 1]
1776
Named by science
Schreber described it as Felis caracal, from the Cape of Good Hope; the place was later pinned down as Table Mountain, Cape Town.⁠[2]
1931–1952
Hunted as a pest
Control operations in South Africa’s Karoo killed an average of 2,219 caracals a year to protect sheep and goats.⁠[2]
1979
Trade rules
CITES listed Asian caracals in Appendix I, banning commercial trade, and all other caracals in Appendix II.⁠[24]
2006
DNA settles it
A DNA family tree of all living cats placed the caracal with the serval and African golden cat, far from the lynxes.⁠[19, 2]
2021
India steps in
India added the caracal to a recovery plan for 22 threatened species. Only about 50 may be left there.⁠[25]
2025
A surprise visitor
A camera trap caught a young male caracal in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, central India, where caracals had almost vanished.⁠[21, 25]

Growing up caracal

From a blind newborn to an independent hunter in under a year.

Before birth
A hidden den
The mother chooses a den in an old porcupine or aardvark burrow, a rock crevice, a tree or thick bush, and lines it with fur and feathers.⁠[2, 5, 26]
Day 1
Born blind
After about 2½ months (68–81 days), 1–6 kittens are born, usually 2–3. Each weighs about 165–250 g.⁠[5, 3, 2, 18]
6–10 days
Eyes open
The kittens open their eyes, which are blue-tinted at first.⁠[2, 3]
≈1 month
Ears up
Ears that lay flat stand up, with tufts only about 1 cm long. Kittens are thought to start eating meat at around 4 weeks.⁠[2, 7]
≈6 weeks
Moving house
In a Cape Town study, mothers used 1–3 main dens for about six weeks, then moved between short-term dens. Hunting trips away lasted about 12 hours.⁠[26]
4–6 months
Hunting lessons
Kittens stop drinking milk, get their adult teeth at 4–5 months and follow their mother to learn to hunt.⁠[7, 5, 2]
9–10 months
Leaving home
Young caracals become independent. Young males may travel 60–90 km; females often settle near their mother.⁠[2, 4]
14–20 months
Grown up
Females usually first breed at about 14 months, males at 18–20 months.⁠[2]
10–12 years
A long life
Wild caracals live about 10–12 years. The oldest known reached 20.3 years in a zoo.⁠[2, 5, 18]

Where caracals live

Caracals like dry country with some cover: savanna, scrub, rocky hills and dry woodland. They avoid open sand seas and rainforest.

Africa → India
one of the widest ranges of any carnivore
From the southern tip of Africa north to Arabia and Turkey, and east through Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) to India.⁠[2, 4, 27]
3,300 m
highest records
From sea level to 3,300 m in the mountains of Ethiopia and Lesotho, though caracals prefer lower ground.⁠[2, 4]
−38%
of its old African range lost
Caracals are common in southern and eastern Africa but rare and patchy in North and West Africa.⁠[2, 4]
−96%
shrink in India since 2001
Once reported in 13 Indian states, caracals now survive mainly around Ranthambhore (Rajasthan) and Kutch (Gujarat).⁠[23, 25]

Caracals are moving into farmland in South Africa and Namibia, and around Cape Town they live right next to the city.

Caracal vs lynx

Both have tufted ears, but the caracal’s closest relative is the African golden cat, not the lynx.

Caracal vs Eurasian lynx vs African golden cat
	Caracal	Eurasian lynx	African golden cat
Scientific name⁠[2, 9, 28]	Caracal caracal	Lynx lynx	Caracal aurata
Where it lives⁠[2, 9, 28]	Dry savanna, scrub and hills in Africa and Asia	Forests of Europe and northern Asia	Rainforests of equatorial Africa
Weight⁠[4, 9, 28]	6–18 kg	17–25 kg	7–16 kg
Ears⁠[4, 9, 28]	Long black tufts (4–5 cm)	Long black tufts	Rounded, no tufts
Coat⁠[4, 9, 28]	Plain tawny to brick red	Grey to reddish, often spotted	Reddish-brown or grey, spotted or plain
Tail⁠[2, 9, 28]	About ⅓ of body length, no black tip	Short, with a black tip	About ⅓ of body length, black tip
Feet⁠[4, 9]	Stiff hairs between pads for sand	Furry “snowshoe” paws in winter	—
Main prey⁠[2, 9, 28]	Rodents, hares, hyraxes, birds, small antelope	Small deer such as roe deer and chamois	Rodents and small duikers
Kills prey up to⁠[4, 9]	2–3× its own size	3–4× its own size	Not known

The caracal and the African golden cat share the genus Caracal; the serval is the third member of their family line. Lynxes (genus Lynx) are a separate branch.

Are caracals endangered?

Not worldwide: caracals are common in southern Africa. But in much of Asia and North Africa they are rare, and in India only a few dozen may be left.

IUCN Red List

Least Concern (LC)

Trend unknown

Widespread and common in southern and eastern Africa, where it is even spreading on farmland. But it has lost about 38% of its old range in Africa, and scientists say population trends are unknown across most of its range.⁠[29, 30, 2, 4]

IUCN Red List, assessed 2014 (published 2016).

Threats

Killed as a pest2,219 a year
Caracals sometimes take sheep and goats, so farmers shoot, trap and poison them. Karoo control operations killed 2,219 a year on average in 1931–1952. In a 2023 survey, over half of Karoo farmers said they had used illegal poison on predators.⁠[2, 4, 31]
Vanishing in Asia≈50 in India
Habitat loss, hunting and conflict with herders have made caracals rare in Asia. India may have about 50 left; Pakistan lists the caracal as Critically Endangered, with 100–150 animals.⁠[25, 4, 23, 27]
Roads and rat poison78%
Around Cape Town, cars are the main measured cause of death, and 78% of 102 caracals tested had rat poison in their bodies. The city also cuts off the Cape Peninsula’s roughly 50 caracals, which are becoming inbred.⁠[32, 33, 34]
Pet trade
An estimated 50–100 caracals are smuggled each year from Somaliland to Gulf countries, and caracals are openly advertised online as exotic pets.⁠[4]

What’s helping

Legal protection
Asian caracals have been on CITES Appendix I since 1979. Hunting is banned in many countries, and India gives caracals its highest level of protection.⁠[24, 4, 22]
India’s recovery plan
Since 2021 the caracal has been one of 22 species in India’s recovery programme, and researchers planned camera-trap surveys in the Ranthambhore–Kuno landscape.⁠[25]
Smarter farming
Killing caracals has not solved livestock losses, and studies suggest it can make them worse. Scientists recommend safer night pens and other non-lethal protection.⁠[2, 4]
Citizen science1,232+
Cape Town residents have sent the Urban Caracal Project more than 1,232 sighting reports, plus roadkill records that help find danger spots.⁠[35, 32]
Comebacks
Caracals have made a strong comeback in Israel over the last 20 years, and camera traps found one in Abu Dhabi, the first confirmed there since 1965 (reported in 2020).⁠[36, 17]

Caracal cousins

African golden catVulnerable
The caracal’s closest relative lives in African rainforests. It has lost about 44% of its known range, and deforestation, roads and bushmeat hunting threaten it.⁠[28, 37]
ServalLeast Concern
The third member of the caracal’s family line hunts in wetter grasslands than the caracal.⁠[38, 2, 5]

Caracal quiz

12 questions. Every answer is somewhere on this page.

Question 1 of 12Score 0

What does the name “caracal” mean?

Caracal field notes

Diet, food web, safety and badges from the Snappit field guide.

Diet & Feeding

Caracals are fierce hunters that mostly eat small mammals, birds, and sometimes even larger prey.

Primary Foods

Birds
Rodents
Hares
Hyraxes
Small Antelope
Foraging Method: Ambush

Ecological connections

Rock HyraxHunts
Main prey item in some regions.
Dorcas GazelleHunts
Often preys on fawns or smaller adults.
LionEaten by
Occasionally hunted by larger predators.
Cape HareHunts
Main prey in some dry places, such as Israel’s Arava desert.

Safety

Danger 2/5 · Low

Caracals are shy wild animals and should be admired from a distance. A cornered caracal can scratch and bite, so never try to touch or feed one.

Traits

Collections

Mammals

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Caracal

Also known as

Rooikat (Afrikaans: “red cat”) · Caracal lynx · African lynx · Red lynx · Siyah gosh (India: “black ear”) · Karakal · Desert Lynx

Sources for these caracal facts

39 studies and references · checked Oct 16, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

How to identify Caracal?

Compare ears, muzzle, tail, feet and coat markings. Size is hard to judge without something nearby for scale, and young mammals may not have adult coloring yet. Mammal Identifier: upload a photo and compare the visible details.

How long is Caracal?

61-106 cm

How much does Caracal weigh?

6-20 kg

How long does Caracal live?

10-16 years

What does Caracal eat?

Caracals are fierce hunters that mostly eat small mammals, birds, and sometimes even larger prey.

Where is Caracal usually found?

Savannas

How many babies does Caracal usually have?

1-6

How high can a caracal jump?

Caracals are reported to leap about 3 m straight up from a crouch, roughly 6½ times their shoulder height, to knock birds out of the air. Estimates vary from “2 m or more” to 4 m, and we found no modern measurement.

Is a caracal a lynx?

No. Its tufted ears earned it the name “desert lynx”, but it belongs to its own genus, Caracal. DNA shows its closest relatives are the African golden cat and the serval.

Can you keep a caracal as a pet?

Scientists say caracals make unsuitable pets: they need lots of space and keep wild habits like hunting, leaping and spraying urine. The exotic pet trade worries conservationists, and in Great Britain you need a dangerous wild animal licence to keep one.

Are caracals dangerous to humans?

Wild caracals are shy and avoid people, and we found no scientific reports of wild caracals seriously hurting anyone. Their conflicts with people are mostly about sheep, goats, poultry and pet cats. Like any wild cat, a caracal can scratch and bite if cornered, so never try to touch or feed one.

What does the name caracal mean?

It comes from the Turkish karakulak, meaning “black ear”, after the black backs of its ears. In South Africa it is called rooikat, “red cat”.

Are caracals endangered?

Not worldwide: the IUCN lists the caracal as Least Concern because it is common in southern and eastern Africa. But it is rare in much of Asia and North Africa, and India may have only about 50 left.

How fast can a caracal run?

Nobody has measured it. The scientific species account says only that the caracal is said to be the fastest cat of its size over short distances; figures like 80 km/h found online have no source we could find.

How do caracals hunt and what do they eat?

They stalk quietly as close as they can, then pounce, leap or dash. They eat rodents, hares, hyraxes, birds and small antelope, and can kill prey about twice their own weight. Scientists have recorded 151 prey species.