black caracal

Arizona Docent

Arizona Docent

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Does anyone know, definitively, if black (melanistic) caracals actually occur? Whenever I read about caracals, in books or online, it often has this very vague statement: "black caracals have been reported." But it never says where it was reported or by whom. I do not know of any photos (live or dead), skins, museum specimens, or reliable eyewitness accounts. In fact, I do not know of any specific location or name references, just the vague "it has been reported." This leads me to believe it is just an unfounded claim that people keep copying from other sources, with no original source.

Does anyone know of any definite evidence, either physical or literary?
 
Arizona Docent said:
Does anyone know, definitively, if black (melanistic) caracals actually occur? Whenever I read about caracals, in books or online, it often has this very vague statement: "black caracals have been reported." But it never says where it was reported or by whom. I do not know of any photos (live or dead), skins, museum specimens, or reliable eyewitness accounts. In fact, I do not know of any specific location or name references, just the vague "it has been reported." This leads me to believe it is just an unfounded claim that people keep copying from other sources, with no original source.

Does anyone know of any definite evidence, either physical or literary?
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From what I've heard, (and that could well be wrong) black caracals are only known to exist in the Aberdare Mountains in Kenya and below is apparently the first one photographed in the wild, apparently within Aberdare National Park. Having said that, when I went there I neither saw one nor heard them mentioned so am not sure how verified reports are.

http://dinets.travel.ru/serval1.jpg

And the site that image was taken from:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?i...=/images?q=black+caracal+aberdare&gbv=2&hl=en
 
I saw a melanistic caracal in a tv documentary program filmed in Kenya, (very good close images) probably where redpanda says,but I don't sure for the exact place.
 
this site MUTANT BIG CATS 2 says (fairly vaguely)
Melanistic individuals are relatively common. The normal colour is tawny or golden with black-tufted ears. It is sometimes known as the Desert Lynx or Caracal Lynx. Black Caracals have been reported from Uganda and from Kaffraria, South Africa. A case of dwarfism has been reported in a captive bred Caracal.
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I came across this picture of a Caracal it is not what I would call melanistic but definitly looks a little darker. I have never come across any other information regarding melanistic specimens.
3332636408_0490b8803a.jpg


Serval however come in a variety of mutations including white:
white-serval_thumb%5B12%5D.jpg


and Black
melanistic%20serval%20cat.jpg


There are also hybrids between this species and domestic cats

I thought this was really interesting, A melanistic bobcat!

blackbobcatd.jpg
 
partially melanistic caracal in captivity here: Caracal x Bobcat Hybrid

The page is titled "caracal x bobcat hybrid" but it isn't clear if that is the case (there isn't really any text to speak of). It certainly doesn't look like it should be.
 
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interestingly enough, in The Uganda Journal 14:2, September 1950, (pages 176-177), J. M. Watson writes "The Rev. R. Clarke tells me he obtained alive an all-black specimen in 1946 and presented it to an Australian collecting expedition."
 
If you read that it says above the picture "Oblivion - He's a slightly melanistic caracal tom with grey eyes"

the Bobcat referred to in the second picture I presume is the domestic breed of cat tjhat have little ear tufts and shorter tail (I think?) admittedly don't know much about breeds of domestic cats!
 
Vulpes said:
If you read that it says above the picture "Oblivion - He's a slightly melanistic caracal tom with grey eyes"

the Bobcat referred to in the second picture I presume is the domestic breed of cat tjhat have little ear tufts and shorter tail (I think?) admittedly don't know much about breeds of domestic cats!
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yes, that why I said it wasn't clear what the photos were supposed to be showing. I thought the second photo was supposed to be a bobcat x domestic cat hybrid (and it doesn't look like what I would expect that hybrid to look like if it existed), but there didn't seem to be a reason for the photo of the caracal to be there while the page title itself seems to suggest it is (also?) a hybrid.
 
The bottom photo is a domestic cat - not a hybrid at all. The top photo appears to be a regular caracal that has been photoshopped to have less saturated color and perhaps slightly darker (note that it is psuedo black and white while the background is normal color). Not sure what that website is (I did not go into any other pages), but it appears to be a place to get weird avatars of cats. Nothing to be taken seriously.

BTW since my initial post I have consulted with two international experts in range countries (whom small cat expert and friend Jim Sanderson referred to me). They had never heard of a black caracal. I have a feeling the 1950 citation quoted earlier in this thread may be the source that everyone is copying.
 
Arizona Docent said:
The bottom photo is a domestic cat - not a hybrid at all. The top photo appears to be a regular caracal that has been photoshopped to have less saturated color and perhaps slightly darker (note that it is psuedo black and white while the background is normal color). Not sure what that website is (I did not go into any other pages), but it appears to be a place to get weird avatars of cats. Nothing to be taken seriously.
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I'll take your word for the photoshopping as you're the photo expert on here. (That Warrior Cats RPG is one weird site by the way, once I had a browse; but I guess no weirder than Zoochat would appear to someone not interested in zoos)

Arizona Docent said:
BTW since my initial post I have consulted with two international experts in range countries (whom small cat expert and friend Jim Sanderson referred to me). They had never heard of a black caracal. I have a feeling the 1950 citation quoted earlier in this thread may be the source that everyone is copying.
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it is interesting though that Uganda and Kaffraria (in South Africa) are both mentioned in terms of melanistic caracals. I have tried finding any original references to black caracals in Kaffraria but with no luck. The internet is a funny place, from probably only one or two passing original references it becomes (on some sites) "black caracals are frequently encountered" :D
 
Melanism is quite common in felines and other mammals so I wouldn't be completely surprised if one turned up.

For Melanism or Albinism to show themselves there generally is a bit of inbreeding in small closed populations. Maybe Caracals are so common their genetic variation is to wide to allow such a mutation to express itself? Just a theory!
 
Arizona Docent said:
To bump an old thread, here is the only realistic photo I have seen (just came across it). But there is no information as to when or where it was taken.
http://41.media.tumblr.com/1b2629c43a33ab4379f572e0adab33d2/tumblr_ncbomdhjEo1te40s6o1_1280.jpg
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it took a little while but I found it. The caracals were kept at the zoo at Ibadan, Nigeria, in the 60s or 70s (probably 70s from the look of the photo). The photo was taken from this site - Other Mammals Photo Gallery | Animals, Africa and other secrets?
 
@ Chlidonias - that is an amazing find, great job! If you scroll over the photo here is the caption that pops up:
These young caracals (Felis caracal) were brought to the Zoological Garden for sale. They were almost certainly siblings and one was black/melanic. They had come from an area north of Ibadan, but it was impossible to obtain hard information. These animals subsequently did well in the Zoo.
 
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