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Caracal v Serval
Topic Started: Jul 10 2012, 05:27 PM (17,681 Views)
Taipan
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Caracal - Caracal caracal
The caracal (Caracal caracal, pronounced /ˈkærəkæl/) is a fiercely territorial medium-sized cat ranging over Western Asia, South Asia and Africa. The caracal is distributed over Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and India. Its chief habitat is dry steppes and semideserts, but it also inhabits woodlands, savannah, and scrub forest. They generally prefer open country, so long as there is sufficient cover, in the form of bushes and rocks, from which to ambush prey. The caracal is a slender, yet muscular, cat, with long legs and a short tail. Males typically weigh 13 to 18 kilograms (29 to 40 lb), while females weigh about 11 kilograms (24 lb). The caracal resembles a Eurasian Lynx, and for a long time it was considered a close relative of the lynxes. It has a tail nearly a third of its body length, and both sexes look the same. The caracal is 65 to 90 centimetres (26 to 35 in) in length, with a 30 centimetres (12 in) tail. Compared to lynxes, it has longer legs, shorter fur, and a slimmer appearance.

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Serval - Leptailurus serval
The serval, Leptailurus serval or Caracal serval, known in Afrikaans as Tierboskat, "tiger-forest-cat", is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal. The serval is a medium sized cat, measuring 59 to 92 centimetres (23 to 36 in) in head-body length, with a relatively short, 20 to 38 centimetres (7.9 to 15 in) tail, and a shoulder height of about 54 to 66 centimetres (21 to 26 in). Weight ranges from about 7 to 12 kilograms (15 to 26 lb) in females, and from 9 to 18 kilograms (20 to 40 lb) in males. It is a strong yet slender animal, with long legs and a fairly short tail. The head is small in relation to the body, and the tall, oval ears are set close together. The pattern of the fur is variable. Usually, the serval is boldly spotted black on tawny, with 2 or 4 stripes from the top of the head down the neck and back, transitioning into spots. The "servaline" form has much smaller, freckled spots, and was once thought to be separate species. The backs of the ears are black with a distinctive white bar. In addition, melanistic servals are quite common in some parts of the range, giving a similar appearance to the "black panther" (melanistic leopard). Servals are nocturnal, and so hunt mostly at night, unless disturbed by human activity or the presence of larger nocturnal predators. Although the serval is specialized for catching rodents, it is an opportunistic predator whose diet also includes birds, hares, hyraxes, reptiles, insects, fish, and frogs. The serval has been observed taking larger animals, such as deer, gazelle, and springbok, though over 90% of the serval's prey weighs less than 200 g (7 oz).

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zombie
 
serval vs caracal
Edited by Taipan, Apr 29 2014, 06:04 PM.
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Replies:
Kiryu2012
Heterotrophic Organism
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Giving this to the caracal for being more heavily built.
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AiM4
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pastepotpete
Dec 25 2016, 07:47 AM
AiM4
Dec 25 2016, 12:47 AM
pastepotpete
Dec 24 2016, 04:22 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
Well if we look at their technique anyways, they'll either do a throat/nape bite, face swap, or skull bites. I have seen male cats attempting skull bites against each other in a territorial dispute. Though throat biting against each other is VERY rare. Not sure about their wild counterparts though.

Now, you can't simply judge a cat's technique simply on how much they weight. I mean caracals are known to kill deers, and how else would they kill a deer other then a throatbite? Same goes for bobcats.

Any source on your claims regarding fingers? I mean i'm pretty sure domestic cats crunch some parts of chicken bones like the thighs and ribs.
there is deer in southern africa?
Sorry i meant impalas

But yes there are deers in SA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallow_deer
Edited by AiM4, Jan 7 2017, 06:47 PM.
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Grazier
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Kiryu2012
Dec 25 2016, 08:01 AM
Giving this to the caracal for being more heavily built.
I agree, but I feel compelled to point out only feline vs feline will I automatically give my vote to the more heavily built individual, it's generally a poor indicator, but suits the feline family due to their brief explosive contests.
AiM4
Jan 7 2017, 06:46 PM
pastepotpete
Dec 25 2016, 07:47 AM
AiM4
Dec 25 2016, 12:47 AM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
there is deer in southern africa?
Sorry i meant impalas

But yes there are deers in SA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallow_deer
Must be quite a few since Australia didn't warrant a mention and I've seen about 20 fallow deer in the wild here personally, including an all white stag. That's just fallow, have seen many more red and rusa.
Edited by Grazier, Jan 7 2017, 11:23 PM.
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Vivyx
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The serval has almost no chance of realistically winning this encounter. The caracal is bigger, more powerfully built, aggressive, more experienced with hunting larger prey and it's more combative. I'm going to be quite frank in saying that I don't see any important advantages that the serval would bring to this fight, it's just too docile and lightly-built by comparison. IMO this is a mismatch.
Edited by Vivyx, Jan 8 2017, 03:52 AM.
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CanineCanis
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this is a deleted post
Edited by CanineCanis, Mar 2 2018, 02:09 PM.
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CanineCanis
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Vivyx
Jan 8 2017, 03:49 AM
The serval has almost no chance of realistically winning this encounter. The caracal is bigger, more powerfully built, aggressive, more experienced with hunting larger prey and it's more combative. I'm going to be quite frank in saying that I don't see any important advantages that the serval would bring to this fight, it's just too docile and lightly-built by comparison. IMO this is a mismatch.
I was reading across threads from guests and stumbled across on this one and well....

The Caracal is not larger
How is the Caracal more powerfully built? Are you judging this by look?
Hunting larger prey doesn’t mean much... at all
Both animals are willing to kill each other in this hypothetical matchup
What do you mean by “more combative?”

Both animals are very similarly built, the serval just has longer limbs

Honestly I don’t see a major advantage the Caracal has over the serval, there’s nothing it’s miles ahead of the serval at honestly...
ImperialDino
Jul 12 2012, 09:19 AM
k9boy
Jul 10 2012, 06:31 PM
At average weights the serval is too big, at parity or close weights the caracal wins.
too big? There about the same size little guy!!

the serval is a rodent hunter and basically takes the same prey as a HOUSECAT would, the caracal takes eagles and flamingos.
Flamingos aren’t impressive

And again
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Looking through the camera photos when they come in is an exciting time, you never have any idea what might be on there. We change the SD cards weekly, and anything can happen in a week! When looking through this week, we found something that is very rare to see, a serval with a kill. Normally, serval will kill rodents and other small animals, they are even able to snatch insects out of the air! However, this serval was clearly very hungry as the antelope in its jaws is probably the same size, if not slightly bigger than the cat! It is very unusual to see this and to get it on camera is really amazing, but that cat will probably not be hungry again for a while.


Koolyote
Oct 13 2015, 05:46 PM
The Caracal would destroy the Serval even at parity, it has a stronger bite and body and takes down more impressive prey.
Any evidence that suggests this?
Oculus kageyamii
Oct 24 2015, 02:39 PM
^^^So much for the skull difference. They look the same size. Maybe that's a female caracal.
Not much difference in the skull sizes dude
Edited by CanineCanis, Apr 8 2018, 01:46 PM.
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Taipan
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If it did come down to prey size, the Caracal is the clear winner:

Scottwolverine1111
 
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CanineCanis
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Taipan
Apr 8 2018, 03:59 PM
If it did come down to prey size, the Caracal is the clear winner:

Scottwolverine1111
 
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Yes I agree, but a I don’t know how much prey size actually matters in these matchups
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