# Range use by an adult male caracal in the southern Kalahari

> How much room does one caracal need in the Kalahari? Following a single radio-collared male from the air for about 18 months, researchers found they used about 308 km², many times more than male caracals studied in the Cape. The caracal also found their way home after being released 25 km from where they were caught.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1994-bothma-le-riche-range-use-adult-male/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** J. du P. Bothma and E. A. N. Le Riche
- **Year published:** 1994
- **Journal or source:** Koedoe (Natural history note)
- **Full citation:** Bothma, J. du P. and Le Riche, E. A. N. 1994. Range use by an adult male caracal in the southern Kalahari. Koedoe 37(2): 105-108.
- **DOI:** 10.4102/koedoe.v37i2.341
- **Access status:** Hosted (freely available elsewhere)
- **PDF:** https://www.originalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1994_Bothma_and_Le-Riche_range-use-by-an-adult-male-caracal.pdf

## Tags

- **Species:** Mammals > Caracal
- **Region:** Africa > South Africa
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Home range; Movement; Site fidelity
- **Methods and technology:** Descriptive statistics; Geographic Information System (GIS); Radio telemetry; Very high frequency (VHF) radio collars
- **Data type:** Existing data; New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not needed
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology
- **Year published:** 1994

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: caracal (Felis caracal), one adult male. Mentioned only: leopards, which carried collars of the same range in the park.
- **Location and habitat:** South-western Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, South Africa, and the adjacent Mier farming area. Red dunes south-west of Hakskeenpan (capture site, on the park boundary with the Mier area); released at Kamqua in the Auob riverbed. Other places named: Groot Skrij (text and map) and Klein Skrij (map). Extremely arid; the range held four known waterholes and its northern edge roughly followed the Auob riverbed.
- **Topics:** home range size in an arid area, core area, range use, homing behaviour and range integrity, use of farmland next to a park, water independence, food limitation and range size, comparison with caracal ranges elsewhere in South Africa (south-western Cape, Mountain Zebra National Park, West Coast National Park). Minor points: the title says “southern Kalahari” while the text says “south-western Kalahari”; of 18 localities, 13 fell in the core area but only ten show on the map because some were duplicated.
- **Statistics or models:** Minimum convex polygon (Mohr 1947) for observed range; core area as the obvious clumping of locations (after Hamilton 1976, Stuart 1982, Norton and Lawson 1985); one-sided t-test comparing this caracal’s range with the mean of four male caracals in Mountain Zebra National Park (t = -12.9, degrees of freedom = 3, p < 0.01). The authors note that minimum convex polygons may be biased with fewer than 25 locations (Jennrich and Turner 1969).
- **Data type:** New field data: 18 aerial radio-tracking locations of one adult male, 26 January 1990 to 12 August 1991. Existing data: published caracal range sizes from four earlier studies, used for comparison.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

The size of a wild cat’s home range depends mostly on hunting success, especially the number of hunting places, cover and how much prey there is. In dry areas, where prey varies and cover is sparse, the authors expected caracal ranges to be larger than elsewhere. They tested this with one adult male caracal in the south-western Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, South Africa.

- Capture and collaring. The caracal was caught on 26 January 1990 in the red dunes south-west of Hakskeenpan, on the park boundary with the Mier farming area. They were fitted with a radio collar and released at Kamqua in the Auob riverbed.

- Aerial tracking. From 26 January 1990 to 12 August 1991, the authors located the caracal at irregular intervals from a light aircraft (a Cessna 206), using a left-right antenna switch and circling over the spot.

- Mapping. They plotted 18 locations on computer mapping software and measured the observed range as a minimum convex polygon (the smallest outline that encloses all the locations). The core area was the part of the range where locations were clearly clumped.

- Comparing. They compared this range with the only published range sizes for caracals in South Africa at the time.

### 2. What they found

- The observed range was 308.4 km² and the core area 93.2 km². Thirteen of the 18 locations fell in the core area.

- The range was significantly larger than the mean range of four adult males in Mountain Zebra National Park (15.2 km²). It was also far larger than the ranges reported in the south-western Cape (a young male settled into a range of 65 km² after moving widely over 483 km²) and West Coast National Park (two males averaged 26.97 km², the largest 32.87 km²).

- 61.4 km² of the range (19.9%) lay on the neighbouring Mier farms, outside the park.

- The range held four known waterholes, although caracals do not need to drink. Its northern edge roughly followed the Auob riverbed.

- The caracal used the whole range during the study. Their last two locations, at opposite ends of the range (2 km east of Hakskeenpan and 5 km east of Groot Skrij), were visited within 22 days.

- After release at Kamqua, the caracal returned to near their capture site, about 25 km in a straight line.

### 3. What they concluded

- These are the first range data for caracals in the extremely arid south-western Kalahari.

- The caracal’s return from the release site to near the capture site points to homing behaviour and a stable range.

- Although minimum convex polygons can be biased with fewer than 25 locations, the authors consider 18 locations probably a fair estimate of an adult male caracal’s movements in the area.

- Home ranges of carnivores grow when food is limited, and food is limited in arid areas. This study gives a first idea of the range and core area an adult male caracal needs in the arid Kalahari, much larger than any caracal home range then known in the Cape Province.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

Tracks and signs were not used. The authors’ keywords say “aerial tracking”, but this means locating the caracal’s radio collar from an aircraft.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- Telonics radio collar working at 148 to 150 MHz (very high frequency, VHF).

- Aerial radio-tracking from a Cessna 206 with a cabin-mounted left-right switch.

- Locations plotted with Microstation PC mapping software, and areas measured with a Geographic Information System (GIS).

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Range use by an adult male caracal in the southern Kalahari (Bothma and Le Riche, 1994). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1994-bothma-le-riche-range-use-adult-male/