Context: Caracal: An Intimate History of Mysterious Cat, a book by Dharmendra Khandal and Ishan Dhar is the first and definitive work exploring the Caracal’s biology and ecology, the fascinating history with humans, and the changes in its distribution over time in the country.
About caracal:
- It is a medium-sized 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 is typically nocturnal, highly secretive and difficult to observe.
- It is territorial, and lives mainly alone or in pairs.
- It is a carnivore that typically preys upon birds, rodents, and other small mammals.
- In India, it is known locally as Siyah Gosh, a Persian name that translates as ‘black Ear’ and occurs in Sariska Tiger Reserve and Ranthambhore National Park, followed by Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
- A Sanskrit fable exists about a small wild cat named deergha-karn or long-eared.
- It is classified as "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List, listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and included in Appendix I of CITES.