IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Avenant, N.L.; Nel, J.A.J. | |
| Home-range use, activity, and density of caracal in relation to prey density | |
| 1998 African Journal of Ecology (36): 347-359 | |
Two male and three female caracal _Felis caracal_ were radio-tracked over a 1-year period in arid shrub on the west coast of South Africa, by day and night over at least 130 days for each caracal, and uninterrupted for up to 120 h at a time. These results, on short-term use of space, were related to concurrent availability of prey. The use by caracal of specific plant communities showed a significant positive correlation to prey biomass of rodents. Males had much larger home-ranges (26.9ñ0.75 kmý) than females (7.39ñ1.68 kmý). Male home-ranges overlapped completely with those of females, whereas female ranges overlapped between 0 and 19 %. Caracal were active by night and day; onset of activity was affected more by ambient temperature (TA) than photoperiod. Caracal were active significantly longer on nights colder than 20øC. Females ceased activity at TA > 20ø C, males at TA > 22ø C. Males foraged faster than females (667 vs. 312 m h-1) and moved more than twice the distance of females during an active period. Calculated density of caracal was between 0.23 and 0.47 km-2. |
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