Me by TheGreenMan01

IC Name: Caracal Joined: 8 Mar 2007 Last visit: 53 minutes ago Sex/gender: Female Location: Southend, UK Age: 53 Caracal donates to help keep IC running

Just musing and learning, going on something of a journey.... destination still uncertain.

http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/posts/187958/

Life is very very good though!

Eleutheria means to be free, exempt, unrestrained, not bound by an obligation.

e-lyü-the-r'i-ä

The caracal. 

It's a cat, the largest of the small cats, about the size of a spaniel. Found in the wild from Turkey across to India and down to Southern Africa. Highly successful as a hunter, caracal uses the big cat techniques of the throat grip on much larger prey as well as the more usual small cat pounce. They are also renowned for their ability to jump to catch birds, often leaping 3m straight into the air from a crouch.

Solitary creatures, they live alone venturing out in search of other caracals only to mate. The females are fiercely protective of their young but drive them away when the youngsters are old enough to fend for themselves. Rarely spotted in the wild, you usually only know they've been there as they leave, sated and replete. Sometimes you hear them, their distinctive yowl penetrates the dark night but they blend into the background only emerging to hunt with a burst of energy and speed.

Featured in San mythology, the caracal is the star bride of The Dawn's Heart, their greatest hunter. He vanishes into the red African sunset each night, his bright light vanishing as the moon rises, returning in the morning with the biggest, plumpest bok as a gift for his wife. She is a successful hunter in her own right and so theirs is a marriage of equals - together solely through desire and harmony and not by need.

Although feline, caracals were apparently easy to tame by those who knew how and wagers were taken as to how many pigeons a caracal could swipe in one leap - hence the origin of 'the cat amongst the pigeons'. Up to a dozen fat pigeons could be caught at once and the cats were prized for their ability.

If treated well and cared for, they can be contented as semi-domesticated creatures but they need recognition that their nature is not that of a house tabby, the caracal is never truly tamed but is happy to co-exist with humans when the environment is right.

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I first learned of the caracal through reading a book when I was 15 about the San of the Kalahari. I read much San mythology at university and had the tattoo of 'The Dawns Heart' above my heart so I would always wear the mark of the greatest hunter.

One of the saddest experiences with caracals was when I went to a zoo to see one for the first time. They were tucked in the most remote part of the park, adequately housed but desperately sad as the two were constantly pacing figure of eights around their pen and, unlike all the other animals there, would not look me in the eye. I could only empathise as I've been trapped before too, dulled by capture, driven to stress by the restriction but strangely happy when tamed and kept in the right environment.

It seems to fit.

My pet soapbox subject.

http://www.informedconsent.co.uk/dictionary/Afte...

My little friend @Gonk_1 here to make you feel good!

This profile is undergoing a replan following a change of scope .

Eye colour: Green   Hair colour: Brown   Height: 5ft 6in   Weight: 12st 9lb   BMI: 28.3  

This profile was last updated on 23 Jan 12, 9:44 PM.

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