Research overview: caracal activity patterns and home ranges

Telemetry studies describe the caracal as largely nocturnal and crepuscular, shifting toward stricter night activity where humans are present and showing more daytime movement in undisturbed or cooler conditions. This overview gathers home-range estimates that vary enormously with prey density and aridity, from modest ranges in productive habitat to very large ones in deserts. Males typically range more widely than females and overlap several female ranges. Caracals are capable of long-distance dispersal across open country, which aids recolonization but exposes them to roads and persecution. Characterizing these movement patterns informs reserve sizing, connectivity planning, and the interpretation of camera-trap detection rates, since a low capture frequency may reflect large ranges rather than true scarcity.