Skinny Caracal

Recently I got a few images of Caracal looking, to my eye, a little on the skinny side.

Maybe it is just my imagination, but this Caracal (Rooikat - Caracal caracal) looks a little slender

Last year part of the reserve was burnt (fire management plan). A large portion of the burned area was grassy vegetation that swarmed with mice. After the burn the mouse numbers took a sharp drop. I'm only now starting to notice a slight increase again in mouse activity.

Before the burn two female Caracal each raised a youngster in this area. From the scats and the behaviour of the animals I assume that rodents form an important part of their diet.

My theory is that the reduced number of mice and increased number of Caracal are making life slightly more difficult than usual for some of the animals, especially the young ones.

Recently one of the Grey Rhebok got killed by a Caracal, something that hasn't happened in a while. An interesting side note is that Grey Rhebok meat is believed to be not very good and is often heavily invested with parasites.


Ghostly image of a Caracal at the pond

I'm hoping the Caracal will finally turn their attention more to the Guineafowl at Tygerberg Nature Reserve.