Video posted to YouTube by JCVdude. Beautiful mid sized cats the caracal would normally be a predator of the smaller Serval cat but here they live together in harmony.
“A real peaceable kingdom. Nice!”
Are these gorgeous or what? And the good news is neither one is endangered. Some good news for once. Hooray!
The caracal (Caracal caracal, pronounced /ˈkærəkæl/) is a fiercely territorial medium-sized catranging over Western Asia and Africa. The word caracal comes from the Turkish word “karakulak”, meaning “black ear”.[3] In North India and Pakistan, the caracal is locally known as syahgosh(स्याहगोष/سیاه گوش) or shyahgosh, which is a Persian term meaning black ears.[4] Although it has traditionally had the alternative names Persian Lynx, Egyptian Lynx and African Lynx, it is no longer considered to be an actual lynx. Instead, it is now believed to be closely related to theAfrican golden cat and the serval. The caracal is classified as a small cat, yet is amongst the heaviest of all small cats, as well as the quickest, being nearly as fast as the serval. MORE [Wikipedia]
Caracal kitten courtesy of Kristian Thy from Copenhagen, Denmark under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license via Wikipedia.
The serval (
/ˈsɜrvəl/), Leptailurus serval, is a medium-sized African wild cat. Modern molecular DNA analysis indicates that servals maintain their own unique lineage descending from the sameFelid ancestor as the lion. The serval shares common traits with the cheetah, and it is the cheetah which is thought to have descended from ancient servals.[3] Similar DNA studies have shown theAfrican golden cat and the caracal are closely related to the serval. MORE [Wikipedia]
Serval portrait taken in Sabi Sands July 2007 courtesy of Lee R. Berger under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License via Wikipedia. A serval from the Sabi Sands area of South Africa. Note the large ears adapted for hearing small prey.
