WHAT IS ASIATIC CARACAL?

 Its scientific name is caracal caracal schmitzi . Asiatic caracal is a medium sized and and locally threatened as cat species , which has been widely reported to be on the brink of extinction in India. It is also known by its Persian name Siyahgosh or 'black ears'.

Distribution

• They are found mostly in Rajasthan , Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh are located in Kutch, the Malwa Plateau, the Aravalli hill range.
• Besides India , the Caracal is found in several dozen countries across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.

Habitats

• It occurs in semi-deserts , steppes, savannah , scrubland, dry forest and moist woodland or evergreen forest.
• It prefers open terrain and drier , scrubby, arid habitats and needs cover.

Threats

Large scale hunting, illegal trading and loss of natural habitats are considered significant threats to the species.

Protection status : IUCN Red list ; Least Concern

Wildlife Protection Act 1972 ; Schedule one

CITES; Appendix one 

By Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa - Caracal on the road, early morning in Kgalagadi, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61699151

Conservation Status

In 2012 the, National Board for Wildlife and the Ministry of Environment , Forest and climate Change included Caracal in the list to Critically Endangered Species under critically endangered species recovery programme.

Special Recovery Programme

• It is one of the three components of the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.
• IDWH was started in 2008-09 as a centrally sponsored Scheme . It is meant for providing support to protected areas (National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation reserves and Community reserves except tiger reserves), Protection of Wildlife outside protected areas and recovery programmes for saving critically endangered species and habits.
• There are 22 species on the critically endangered species recovery programme.