Head to head
Jungle Cat vs Caracal
Jungle Cat
VS Caracal
The jungle cat and caracal are both lanky, plain-coated cats with tufted ears, and both range across parts of Africa and Asia, but they hunt in very different habitats.
| Jungle Cat | Caracal | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Felis chaus | Caracal caracal |
| Ears | Black tufts on the ears | Long black ear tufts, moved by around 20 muscles per ear |
| Build | Long-legged and lanky, larger than a domestic cat | 8 to 19 kg, with a shoulder height of about 45 cm |
| Habitat | Reed beds, marshes, and river margins | Dry savanna, scrub, semi-desert, and hill country |
| Diet | Rodents, birds, reptiles, and frogs, and sometimes fish | Hares, rodents, hyraxes, small antelope, and birds caught in flight |
| Water | A good swimmer that hunts in and around shallow water | Not associated with water |
| Native range | Egypt and the Middle East through South Asia to Southeast Asia | Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and northwestern India |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
Jungle Cat vs Caracal: common questions
Why is the jungle cat not found in jungle?
The name is misleading; it favours reed beds, marshes, and river margins, which is why it is also called the swamp cat.
Which cat is the better jumper, the jungle cat or the caracal?
The caracal, which can leap up to about 3 metres straight up from a standing start to catch birds in flight.
Do the jungle cat and caracal live in the same places?
They overlap in parts of the Middle East and Asia, but the jungle cat favours wetlands while the caracal favours dry savanna, scrub, and semi-desert.