Caracal

This medium-size wildcat roams the savannas, deserts, and forests of much of Africa and parts of the Middle East. Its coat is typically a tawny or reddish gold with a white chin, throat, and underside.

Caracals sexually mature around one year to 16 months old and can mate year-round. Females advertise their readiness to mate with urine marking, and responding males will fight for access. While the species is mostly solitary, various males will stay with females for several days, mating multiple times during that period. Pregnancy lasts up to about 2.5months, and mothers will use the abandoned burrow of another animal, like an aardvark, as a birthing den. Litters average around three kittens, with six being the maximum. Kittens are born blind and deaf. Their eyes will open at about 10 days old, around the same time their incisors first become visible.

Females raise the kittens without help from the males, nursing the kittens for four to six months, though kittens can eat meat by the time they’re a month old. By nine or 10 months old, kittens are ready to leave their mothers. Males disperse much farther than females, maintaining ranges about three times larger. The predators live to be about 12 years old in the wild.