Young Baby Caracal Kittens

The most distinctive feature of the caracal is the long black tufts on the back of the ears roughly 4.4 centimetres (1.75 in) long. The caracal is often referred to as the desert lynx, although these black tufts are the only characteristic shared with the lynx. Its fur can range from tawny-brown to brick red. Caracals have white fur on the abdomen, chin and throat. Black lines run from the eye to the nose. Its fur coat is short and very dense. The ears are lightly colored in the front and are black in the back.
The caracal is the largest of Africa's "small cats." Males can weigh up to 18 kilograms (40 lb), and females up to 16 kilograms (35 lb). Caracals are about 40 centimetres (16 in) to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall at the shoulder. Caracals have a short tail. The male and female look the same. Its eye pupils shrink to circles, while other cats' pupils shrink to slits.
The scientific name of the caracal is Caracal caracal. It is placed in the subfamily and the family Felidae. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in the journal Die Säugetiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen in 1776. The name "caracal" is composed of two Turkish words: kara, meaning black, and kulak, meaning ear. The name was first used in 1760.
The caracal has a particularly close relationship with the African golden cat (Caracal aurata). These two species, together with the serval (Leptailurus serval), form one of the eight lineages of Felidae. It possibly diverged from the serval within the last five million years, around the split between the Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. In the past, the caracal was classified with either the Lynx or Felis genera. However, recent molecular evidence now supports a monophyletic genus.