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Caracal

Posted on February 27, 2021 by admin1  723

 

 

 

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Recently, the National Board for Wildlife and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change have included the caracal in the list of critically endangered species.

About Caracal

  • They are slender, medium-sized wild cats.
  • The iconic ears give the animal its name caracal,  which comes from the Turkish word ‘karakulak’, meaning black ears.
  • In India, it is called Siya gosh, a Persian name that translates as ‘black ears’.
    • A Sanskrit fable exists about a small wild cat named deergha-karn or ‘long-eared’.
  • It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears, and long canine teeth.
  • The caracal is an elusive, primarily nocturnal animal.
  • Habitat
    • The caracal is found in several dozen countries across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.
    • In India, the presence of these cats has been reported from only three states which are Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
  • Major Threats
    • Infrastructure projects such as the building of roads lead to the fragmentation of the caracal’s ecology and disruption of its movement.
    • The loss of habitat also affects the animal’s prey which includes small ungulates and rodents.
    • In recent years, cases have been detected of the animal being captured to be sold as exotic pets.
  • Conservation Status
    •  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists caracals as a species of ‘least concern’ in its Red List.
    • However, in India, these are listed as critically endangered species.
  • Significance of Current Listing
    • The listing of the caracal as critically endangered is expected to bring central funding to conservation efforts.

Historical Context –

  • The earliest evidence of the caracal in the subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to the civilisation of the Indus Valley c. 3000-2000 BC, according to a reference in ‘Historical and current extent of occurrence of the Caracal in India’.
  • The caracal has traditionally been valued for its litheness and extraordinary ability to catch birds in flight; it was a favourite coursing or hunting animal in medieval India.
  • Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88) had siyah-goshdar khana, stables that housed large numbers of coursing caracal.
  •  It is mentioned in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, as a hunting animal in the time of Akbar (1556-1605).
  •  Descriptions and illustrations of the caracal can be found in medieval texts such as the Anvar-i-Suhayli, Tutinama, Khamsa-e-Nizami, and Shahnameh.
  • The East India Company’s Robert Clive is said to have been presented with a caracal after he defeated Siraj-ud-daullah in the Battle of Plassey (1757).

Source: IE

 
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