In captivity, caracals have lived to be sixteen years old.
The reference for this information is (a) R.H.N. Smithers in The mammals of the Southern African subregion published by the University of Pretoria in 1983 and (b) C.T. Stuart and T.D. Stuart in Age determination and development of foetal and juvenile Felis caracal published in 1985.
The internet generally states that the lifespan of caracals is between 12 to 15 years. If caracals have lived to 16-years-of-age in captivity I’d expect this medium-sized wild cat to live up to 10-12 years in the wild but it is unwise to try and provide averages as lifespan will vary widely due to a range of life-shortening circumstances.
The lifespan in captivity is very similar to that of the domestic cat. By contrast, and out of curiosity, a similar size cat, the bobcat, has lived to 25 and even 32-years-of-age in captivity.
