Caracal
Caracal caracal (Schreber, 1776)
The caracal (Caracal caracal) is a medium-sized mammal in the family Felidae, subfamily Felinae, within the order Carnivora. It is a nocturnal, terrestrial carnivore whose main foods include impala, dorcas gazelle, gerenuk, helmeted guineafowl, meerkat, hyracoidea and carrion.
Quick facts about the caracal
Adults weigh 13.75 kg, with values up to 14 kg reported, and its lifespan is 18 years, with values up to 20.3 years reported. Gestation lasts 74 days, litters have 3 young, sexual maturity comes at 1.2 years, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 13.8 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Height
- 40 cm – 50 cmsrc for Height
- Lifespan
- 18 years – 20.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- african penguin, african wildcat, banded mongoose, barbary striped grass mouse, black and rufous elephant shrew, bush vlei rat and 18 moresrc for Main food
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 69 days – 74 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 3src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1.1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the caracal?
Photos of the caracal
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Where does the caracal live?
Not recorded
What is the caracal?
The caracal (Caracal caracal) is a wild cat native to Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and arid areas of Pakistan and northwestern India. It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears, relatively short tail, and long canine teeth. Its coat is uniformly reddish tan or sandy, while the ventral parts are lighter with small reddish markings. It reaches 40–50 cm (16–20 in) at the shoulder and weighs 8–19 kg (18–42 lb). It was first scientifically described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1776. Three subspecies are recognised.
Typically nocturnal, the caracal is highly secretive and difficult to observe. It is territorial, and lives mainly alone or in pairs. The caracal is a carnivore that typically preys upon birds, rodents, and other small mammals. It can leap higher than 3.0 m (9.8 ft) and catch birds in midair. It stalks its prey until it is within 5 m (16 ft) of it, after which it runs it down and kills it with a bite to the throat or to the back of the neck. Both sexes become sexually mature by the time they are one year old and breed throughout the year. Gestation lasts between two and three months, resulting in a litter of one to six kittens. Juveniles leave their mothers at the age of nine to ten months, though a few females stay back with their mothers. The average lifespan of captive caracals is nearly 16 years.
From the Wikipedia article “Caracal” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caracal&oldid=1380064678), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the caracal endangered?
The caracal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the caracal classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyFelidae
- genusCaracal
- SpeciesCaracal caracal (Schreber, 1776)
Synonyms Felis caracal, Lynx caracal
Other names and names in other languages (69)
- African caracalEnglish
- African caracalEnglish
- African lynxEnglish
- Asian caracalEnglish
- Asian caracalEnglish
- Caracal catEnglish
- Caracal lynxEnglish
- Desert lynxEnglish
- Desert lynxEnglish
- Gazelle catEnglish
- Red catEnglish
- Red lynxEnglish
- RooikatAfrikaans
- قرقولArabic
- كراكالArabic
- عناق الأرضArabic
- وشق الإفريقيArabic
- وشق الصحراويArabic
- وشق الفارسيArabic
- وشق المصريArabic
- Anaq al ardhArabic
- WasheqArabic
- КаракалъChurch Slavic
- KarakalGerman
- WüstenluchsGerman
- ΚαρακάλGreek
- KarakaloEsperanto
- Caracal o Lince caracalSpanish
- lince africanoSpanish
- karakaliFinnish
- AavikkoilvesFinnish
- Lynx du désertFrench
- હેણોતરોGujarati
- Karakal / КаракалSerbian (Latin)
- קרקלHebrew
- קרקל מצויHebrew
- स्याहगोशHindi
- karakálHungarian
- Lince del desertoItalian
- カラカルJapanese
- ҚарақұлақKazakh
- 카라칼Korean
- KarakalasLithuanian
- ØrkengaupeNorwegian Bokmål
- karakal stepowyPolish
- Râs de deșertRomanian
- Râs al stepelorRomanian
- Râs de pustiuRomanian
- КаракалRussian
- Rys karakalSlovak
- hwangShona
- twanaShona
- IndabusheSwati
- mauajiSwahili
- கறகால் பூனைTamil
- คาราคัลThai
- แมวคาราคัลThai
- KarakulakTurkish
- Step VaşağıTurkish
- ThwaneTswana
- NandzanaTsonga
- thwaniVenda
- Limange la dakaVenda
- IngqawaXhosa
- insimbaluthiXhosa
- InthwanaXhosa
- iwoyeYoruba
- 獰貓Chinese
- NdabusheZulu
Relatives of the caracal
Other species in the same genus Caracal.
Golden cat
Caracal aurata
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is a caracal?
The caracal is a medium-sized mammal in the family Felidae and the order Carnivora.
How heavy is a caracal?
An adult caracal weighs 13.75 kg, with values up to 14 kg reported by sources.
What does a caracal eat?
The caracal is a carnivore. Its main foods include impala, dorcas gazelle, gerenuk, mountain reedbuck, helmeted guineafowl, meerkat, banded mongoose, hyracoidea, goat, hen and carrion.
Is the caracal endangered?
No. The caracal is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a caracal live?
The caracal's lifespan is 18 years, with values up to 20.3 years reported by sources.
How many young does a caracal have?
A caracal has 3 young per litter, with 1.1 litters per year, after a gestation period of 74 days.
Is the caracal active at night?
Yes. The caracal is nocturnal and terrestrial.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Caracal (Caracal caracal). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/caracal
“Caracal (Caracal caracal).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/caracal.
@misc{caracal_2026,
title = {Caracal (Caracal caracal)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/caracal},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}