Awesome Animal Fact - Proud Caracal

Okay, this is my final post about cute wild cats. Seriously, it's time to hit the paws button on this theme before it becomes cat-astrophic!

Did you know the caracal has long ear tufts that it shakes at other caracals as a way of communicating? These cats, when interacting with each other, often move their heads side to side, making the ear tufts jiggle rapidly. As far as I can tell, no one knows yet what this ear-jiggling signal actually means.

One could argue that the caracal is one of the most beautiful of the wild cats. And the cats seem to know this because they often stand or sit in a rather proud, aristocratic pose.

Caracals live in Africa and the Middle East and are well adapted for dry, harsh environments, even deserts. Medium sized cats, they weigh 15 to 44 pounds (7 to 19 kg).

In ancient Egypt, caracals were religiously significant, often depicted in paintings and sculptures. For hundreds of years, in Persia (now Iran) and India, caracals were used by humans for hunting birds. They were even released into arenas with flocks of pigeons so people could bet on which caracal would kill the most pigeons. This is the origin of the expression "to put the cat among the pigeons."

Photo Credits:
- Caracal - DepositPhotos