Weight: 35-50 lbs
Head/Body: 29 in
Tail: 9 in
Subspecies: 9
The largest African lesser cat and an exceptional climber and jumper, the caracal is a slender cat with long legs and a short, sharply tapered tail. Its coat is reddish-brown with distinctive tufted ears and white markings around its eyes and on its throat, chin, and belly.
The caracal may be found in the deserts, scrub, savannahs, mountains and rocky areas of Africa, Arabia, and southern Asia as far east as India, where it hunts by night, from the ground, and seeks small animals, birds of all sizes, and the young of the larger grazing animals.