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19 January 2021 Caracal caracal (Carnivora: Felidae)
Amanda M. Veals, Alexandra D. Burnett, Marina Morandini, Marine Drouilly, John L. Koprowski
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Caracal caracal (Schreber, 1776) is a felid commonly called the caracal. It is a slender, medium-sized cat (5.8–22 kg) characterized by a short tail and long ear tufts. C. caracal has a wide distribution and is found throughout Africa, north to the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, central and southwest Asia into India; its habitat includes arid woodlands, savanna, scrublands, hilly steppes, and arid mountainous regions. It is globally listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources as “Least Concern” despite population trends unknown across most of its geographic distribution. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora lists Asian populations under Appendix I and African populations under Appendix II.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided theoriginal work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Amanda M. Veals, Alexandra D. Burnett, Marina Morandini, Marine Drouilly, and John L. Koprowski "Caracal caracal (Carnivora: Felidae)," Mammalian Species 52(993), 71-85, (19 January 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/mspecies/seaa006
Accepted: 9 August 2020; Published: 19 January 2021
KEYWORDS
Africa
African lynx
Asia
caracal
carnivore
Feline
mesocarnivore
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