<\/a><\/p>\n

I had so much fun yesterday writing about an animal that looks like a cat, which is named after a cat but is not a cat that I thought it would great to actually write about a cat! No, the Caracal isn’t your friendly, fluffy, neighbourhood cat but it is pretty interesting nonetheless.\u00a0 Why don’t you hop on the Wild Facts Train and find out more about this medium-sized cat from Africa and the Middle-East.<\/p>\n

Please ensure that your seats and tray tables are locked in the upright position because here we go.\u00a0 Wait! I don’t think you have to worry about your seats and trays on a train, do you??\u00a0 Oh well, moving on! The caracal has often been compared to the Eurasian Lynx and at one time was thought to be a close member to the lynxes. This is not the case as the caracal is more closely related to the serval (keep your eyes peeled for a Wild Fact on the Serval in the coming days).<\/p>\n

Have you ever wondered where people come up with these weird names for animals? Who thought of the name “Caracal”?\u00a0 Apparently, the term “Caracal” is turkish for black ear! Pretty original, eh?\u00a0 If you are observant you may say to yourself that their ears are not that black so why are they named after it.\u00a0 Then I will tell you that the young caracal cats ears are black on the outside but this colour disappears as they become adults.\u00a0 Imagine what those awkward teenage years are like for the young caracal’s.\u00a0 One black ear and one normal coloured ear!\u00a0 The other cats laughing and pushing at poor Carl the Caracal just because he matured faster than the others.\u00a0 Awww, that poor cat! Oh, before I forget I wanted to mention that the ears of the caracal are actually controlled by 20 different muscles. If I remember my human anatomy correctly, the human ear only has 2 muscles.\u00a0 These ear muscles are significant for the caracal since it relies heavily on hearing to capture its prey.<\/p>\n

For the record, they will prey on rodents, gazelles, antelopes and birds.\u00a0 In my opinion the caracal is like most house cats that I am familiar with.\u00a0 They are fussy and spoiled.\u00a0 In fact, the caracal is such a fussy eater that it will actually use its claws to peel off the fur of the larger prey species.\u00a0 The fur bothers them but apparently feathers are fine for them to eat.\u00a0 I guess I am just a dog person since I have never understood cats.<\/p>\n

This is the last stop for the Wild Facts Train.\u00a0 I will be sure to pick you up the same time tomorrow.\u00a0 Maybe we should just start car pooling?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had so much fun yesterday writing about an animal that looks like a cat, which is named after a cat but is not a cat that I thought it would great to actually write about a cat! No, the Caracal isn’t your friendly, fluffy, neighbourhood cat but it is pretty interesting nonetheless.\u00a0 Why don’t you hop on the Wild Facts Train and find out more about this medium-sized cat from Africa and the Middle-East. Please ensure that your seats and tray tables are locked in the upright position because here we go.\u00a0 Wait! I don’t think you have to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[577,348,4029,575,574,578,114,4025,576,258],"yoast_head":"\n