A healthy Caracal cat is sleek, muscular and highly territorial.

The Caracal is widely distributed across Africa, Central Asia, and south-west Asia into India. While it is relatively common, there is concern over the status of populations on the edge of its range in the Central Asian republics and in Pakistan. Its chief habitat is dry steppe and semi-desert, but it also inhabits woodlands, Savannah, and scrub forest.

Caracal, related to the African Golden Cat

Caracal prefer to live in open country, but only where there are scattered bushes and rocks from which it can spring to ambush its prey. A fully grown male Caracal typically weighs 13 to 18 kilograms. Though classified as a small cat it is indeed a heavy animal.

The Caracal has many aliases, being referred to as the African Lynx, Desert Lynx, Persian Lynx and Egyptian Lynx (and its head features in fact resemble the Eurasian Lynx), but it is not a member of the Lynx family at all! Besides, it has longer legs, shorter fur, and a slimmer appearance than a lynx.

In Afrikaans the Caracal is a called the Rooikat or "red cat" whilst in North India and Pakistan it is locally known as "Shyahgosh" or black ears. The word "Caracal" comes from the Turkish (or the ancient Persian) word "karakulak", meaning (you guessed it) "black ear".

A Caracal Kitten Pleading with Mum for attention

The Caracal is now believed to be (genetically) related to the African Golden cat and the Serval. Its distinguishing features are its very long ear tassels (which it moves using 29 different muscles to listen for and locate nearby prey) and eye pupils which contract to form circles rather than the slits found in most small cats.

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Well reader, holiday time's almost over for another year! Norman and I hope you had a good one, whether you were sunning yourselves in a back yard staycation or lounging in the heat on some golden sandy beach with the waves lapping at your toes (or paws).

As for us, we saw a whole host of creatures and critters on our trip around the National Parks of the USA, including (stuffed) Mountain Lions, a bobcat, a herd of buffalo, a wild Osprey and three bears in Yellowstone Park (with not a Goldilocks in sight)..... But a certain feline called Miss Kitty stole the show for us (well, for cat lovers who else was going to get the prize)!

Miss Kitty struts the boards

Well, to get to the point of the story... coming home we stopped off at Universal Studios, Hollywood in California. There was a show on called 'Animal Actors' and who should turn up as a perfomer but one of our own.

I caught the name 'Miss kitty' as she was introduced but that might just have been her stage name. Out walks a cat of poise and distinction who stole the show from the dogs, birds and babboon also in the show.

Here are a series of snapshots of her performance.

Miss Kittys performance in pictures

So, right on cue, Kitty proceeded to walk the length of the stage, jump on to the alligators snout, up on to the bamboo bridge, across the bridge and up the rope to the hidey hole at the top. All, without so much much of a nod from the animal trainers on hand.
[Now, did you ever try to get a cat to do anything!! (except coming to get food of course)].

The animal trainers did though point out that all the animals in the show (including Kitty) had been rescued from animal shelters or had been found homeless on the streets. They had all been looked after lovingly and trained to perform in many of the Hollywood films we knew so well.

At the end of the show the trainers encouraged us to to donate whatever we could to support animal shelters (in our own regions).

I've posted some more creature snaps overleaf.... We hope you like em

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