Home‐range use, activity, and density of caracal in relation to prey density

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 (26.9±0.75 km2) than females (7.39±1.68 km2). 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 20°C. Females ceased activity at TA > 20°C, males at TA > 22°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.