Tuesday started off with a pretty exciting phone call from Pat who is based at the Jonkershoek Cape Nature Conservation offices, who asked if we would be happy to have a Caracal released on Haut Espoir which had been trapped on a neighbouring farm the previous night. Of course, we would be thrilled to have a caracal released on the property. A couple of years ago on a night drive at Bushmanskloof we were fortunate enough to witness a Caracal take down a pretty big Springbok male, and then drag said Bok about 200 metres off to its lair. Ever since then I have been amazed at how powerful these small cats are for their size. According to Smithers et al, they are prolific hunters, and some footage I have stumbled onto shows them as amazing acrobats when hunting birds. Watch that clip on Youtube here. So when I got the call the answer was both immediate and positive. We would be thrilled to have one of these bad boys released here. And since there are no livestock and the animal poses no threat to anyone else other than its dietary requirements the mountain is the perfect place for release.
The rangers from Jonkershoek CNC I am familiar with, we have spent a fair amount of time on the Scherpheuwelberg together identifying plant species and catching frogs, here is a link to that post It was great catching up with Elias and the guys, we have a few more plants we will have to identify soon and hopefully bump into signs from the Caracal. So we took a saunter up the mountain to the top of the Shiraz block to where the Fynbos starts, found a nice shady spot and offloaded the cage. Took up position behind the cage, and the whole process was over before we knew it, apart from a few growls and hisses and spits, and an occasional claw at the cage, the cat was super relaxed, and once it saw the cage flap open it belted straight for the cover of the thick Fynbos. In hindsight I should have got myself into a better position for a few more front on shots, but suppose these will have to do, and pretty much encapsulates the event in a nutshell. Very happy feline returning to a much happier surrounding. Good luck to all the guinea fowl in the Fynbos section. And the Red Rock rabbits and Grysbok. Keep on your toes guys.
And because I know you all love to have some more info on anything related to Fynbos, here goes:
“in published papers the Caracal is persistently referred to as the lynx, which is unfortunate, for European and New World lynxes are externally very different, being spotted and barred.”
Colour variance is from pale reddish in specimens from semi-desert areas to sandy-brown or even brick red in areas with higher rainfall. And this specimen was as brick red as they come. Solitary and nocturnal. Normally terrestrial they are adept tree climbers and make full use of the powerful dew claws in this pursuit. Home ranges for the western Cape have been recorded of being up to 25 km sq. (From Smithers et al)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracal
