Endangered 'Caracal' spotted in Keoladeo National Park

The endangered 'caracal' (a long-legged cat specie) has been spotted in Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district. Formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, park hosts around 350 bird species.

The caracal (Caracal caracal) a  medium-sized wild cat native of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and India is threatened by anthropogenic mortality and habitat loss due to conversion of natural habitat for agricultmural land and settlements. It's natural habitat includes semi-deserts, open savannas, shrublands, moist woodlands and montane forests.

The camera trapping installed for the leapord moment in the Keoladeo national Park (KNP) has captured the first and rare picture of caracal in the middle of the road. Deputy conservator Forest at KNP Bijo Joy told DH, "We had installed trapping cameras to check the movement of leopards and suddenly we saw a caracal in the camera on April 18th. Its a rare thing. Caracal lives in Ranthambore and its for the first time it has been spotted in Bharatpur."

The Caracal, listed under Schedule 1 in the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 considered to be endangered species, are left with just 28 in Rajasthan. Once dominating the forests of India's heartland Madhya Pradesh has been reduced to oblivion. The Forest department in Rajasthan is marking its entry in Bird Park as feather in its cap. "Its good for biodiversity and since 10 sq kilometer is wet land in Bharatpur it will find both grass and wetland. It predates on Rabbits so its not a threat to the bird species," Joy added.

Its spotting in KNP comes one week after an injured caracal had been rescued from a dry well in core area of Ranthambore National Park  in a serious condition. After a preliminary treatment, it was referred to the Jaipur Zoo for surgery where an orthopedic surgery was conducted.