Down To Earth speaks to Dharmendra Khandal and Ishan Dhar of Tiger Watch about their new book on the caracal
A caracal. Photo: iStock
India brought cheetahs from Africa (Namibia and South Africa) in September 2022 and February 2023 to right the wrong of losing one of its most charismatic species in 1952, as an independent republic.
The Indian cheetah once galloped across the grasslands of South Asia, used by native princes and the British to course game. Back in 2022, Down To Earth (DTE) had reported that even as the cheetah had come back to India after seven decades, the only other feline ever used by humanity for hunting besides the cheetah — the caracal — was suffering and was on the verge of extinction in India.
Even as the caracal continues on the path to extinction, individuals across India are trying to do what they can to save the iconic cat.
A key step in the struggle to save the caracal is to create awareness about these rare animals. Not many have seen a caracal in a zoo, let alone in the wild. It is thus vital to disseminate knowledge about them and the various threats causing their decline.
Dharmendra Khandal. Photo: Self-provided
Conservationists Dharmendra Khandal and Ishan Dhar work with Tiger Watch, a non-profit founded by the late Fateh Singh Rathore, a legend in Indian wildlife circles. It mainly operates in Ranthambhore, one of India’s best-known tiger reserves, also home to the caracal.
Khandal and Dhar recently published Caracal: An intimate history of a mysterious cat. A labour of love four years in the making, the book is now out on the stands and will soon be available on Amazon and Flipkart.
DTE caught up with Khandal and Dhar and quizzed them about the book and its subject. Edited excerpts:
Rajat Ghai (RG): Why did you choose the caracal as the subject of your book?
Dharmendra Khandal & Ishan Dhar (DK & ID): The choice was natural. The caracal is an enigmatic species, yes, but working with Tiger Watch made it fortuitous for us to be working in the Ranthambhore landscape, which is home to one of two viable caracal populations in India (the other being in Kutch, Gujarat).
Our tiger monitoring team comprised mainly of local community youth spread through the districts of Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, and Dholpur. It has been able to accumulate occurrence data through camera trapping efforts (274 camera trap detections from 2015 to 2023) and related information, creating a large yet dynamic dataset for this species unlike anything else in the country.
If we zoom out just a little, we are also fortunate to be in the state of Rajasthan. It has been the site of multiple important natural history as well as historical records for this species. That is because the caracal was used extensively in multiple localities as a coursing animal and was thus also represented in antiquated art. Interest in this species exists at multiple levels in Rajasthan.
RG: How did you conduct the four-year-long research?
DK & ID: India-specific historical data was sought through historical texts, journals, and other archival information. Information was also sought through interactions with historians, forest officers, erstwhile royalty, museum curators, local community members, etc.
Our research shows that historical sources have commented on the caracal’s rarity in India since at least 1671. This, along with its role as a prized coursing animal since at least the 14th century, meant that the caracal has long intrigued those who have encountered it in India.
Ishan Dhar. Photo: Self-provided
Although that certainly does not mean it commanded the kind of attention certain charismatic megafauna species did in India historically, the caracal was also not exactly neglected by historical sources in the same manner as some other species of small wild cats, such as the rusty-spotted cat. Thus, a thorough search revealed information scattered across historical literature that required collating into a concise text.
RG: Were the low numbers of caracals an impediment, since it is a rare animal?
DK & ID: Of course, the caracal’s rarity in the wild in India was a challenge to contend with. However, as discussed earlier, our location and circumstances meant that we were ideally and uniquely placed to embark on this endeavour.
We would be remiss not to mention that certain members of our board of directors, especially those from Gujarat (where the caracal continues to occur in Kutch), such as Punit Lalbhai, also recognised this opportunity and encouraged our research in this direction.
RG: How does one popularise the plight of the caracal?
DK & ID: We consider our book to be a pivotal first step towards popularising the plight of the caracal in India. In fact, our 2020 study, which analysed the caracal’s putative range loss in India, generated considerable interest in multiple quarters. Unfortunately, more serious work is yet to be done to generate awareness on the ground, ideally at the scale of what has been done over the years through Project Tiger and, more recently, Project Cheetah.
RG: India’s conservation focus has been too much fixated with megafauna. Would you agree?
DK & ID: We agree. However, it should be noted that we have no contention with the umbrella species concept and believe that protecting approximately 75,000 sq km in the name of the tiger, for example, is beneficial to several species in India. As discussed in the book, apex predators like tigers can keep the abundance of mesopredators like leopards in control, potentially benefitting smaller sympatric carnivores like caracals in parts of its range. That being said, it is also important to investigate if there are any negative impacts of such a conservation focus on other species.
RG: How would we revive the caracal unless we revive grasslands?
DK & ID: While much grassland has been reportedly lost in India historically, it is important to understand that our research shows that caracals in India today occur in scrubland. These areas, especially ravine habitats, require urgent prioritisation in terms of protection. Land policies such as categorising land as ‘wasteland’ can thus be detrimental to the caracal’s future in India, and even within the last two decades, considerable scrubland has been converted to cropland in Rajasthan.
RG: What did you find during the course of your research about the relationship shared by the caracal with humans?
DK & ID: Along with the cheetah, the caracal was the only other species of cat extensively deployed by royalty and nobility as a coursing animal, albeit for smaller prey animals. This practice was documented from parts of western Asia to even areas outside of the caracal’s natural extent of occurrence area, such as southern Italy and China, at different points in history. In India, coupled with its perceived rarity, the caracal was prized as a coursing animal by royalty and nobility and was largely known by its Persian name, Siyah-Gosh (or “black-eared”).
However, that is not to say that the caracal was only brought to the attention of royals in India through coursing. The caracal is known by multiple distinct vernacular names to common people in India, especially within its range areas and these names are largely centered on its attributes. For instance, in Rajasthan, its reputation as a killer of peafowl has resulted in multiple vernacular names that denote the same such as Mor Todni and Mor Mar Bagheri.
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