Average weight of a caracal

The caracal is a slender, long-legged cat of medium size weighing 8-20 kg (17.6-44.1 pounds). The difficulty in providing the average weight of a caracal is that you end up averaging the weight of females and males and theoretically you should also average-in the weight of sub-adult caracals which makes the resulting number less than useful.

Caracal on Table Top Mountain
Caracal on Table Top Mountain. Photo: Petra van der Berg & Lars Hurenkamp

Therefore, below, I set out some specific weights of male and female caracals taken from different regions of the world where they have been found and weighed. I provide the source of the information.

South Africa

CT Stuart states that 61 male caracals had an average weight of 12.7 kg and that their weight range was between 8-18.1 kg. In his work, Notes on the mammalian carnivores of the Cape Province, South Africa, he also states that 40 female caracals had an average weight of 10.1 kg (7.0-15.9 kg weight range).

JA Pringle and VL Pringle in their book Observations on the lynx Felis caracal in the Bedford district (1979) state that 46 male caracals had an average weight of 14.5 kg with a weight range of 8.6-20.0 kg. They also state that 32 females had an average weight of 10.9 kg with a weight range of 8.6-14.5 kg.

RELATED:Wild Cat Species By Size

Botswana

In Botswana three males weighed on average 13.5 kg with a weight range of 11.5-17.0 kg. Five females had a weight range of 9.7 kg with a weight range of 7.9-12.9 kg. This information comes from RHN Smithers in his book The mammals of Botswana published in 1971.

RELATED: Take a caracal, make him fat and make him look stupid with a dunce’s hat – CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO READ ABOUT THE OBESE PET CARACAL YOU SEE BELOW, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED 😊. This cat has not been included in the averages! He is obese because he is trapped, inactive an overfed.

Overfed, captive and inactive pet caracal is made to look like a dunce
Overfed, captive and inactive pet caracal is made to look like a dunce. Photo: Instragram.

Israel

Six male caracals had an average weight of 9.8 kg and five female caracals had an average weight of 6.2 kg. The information comes from Y Weisbein and H Mendelssohn in their work The biology and ecology of the caracal Felis caracal in the northern Aravah Valley of Israel (1990).

Russia/Turkmenistan

Four male caracals weighed an average of 11.8 kg (11.4-12.7 kg) and three females had an average weight of 8.3 kg with a weight range of 8.0-8.7 kg. This information comes from VG Heptner and AA Sludskii in their book Mammals of the Soviet Union (1992).

Caracal attacking birds
Caracal attacking birds. The caracal is particularly good it attacking birds in flight. This is because they are probably the best vertical jump of all the wild cat species. I’m sure that the bird is higher up their priority list for prey items compared to other wildcat species.

Below are some more articles on the caracal.

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