This elusive (felid) wild cat found in the northwestern part of India which can jump upto 6 feet in air used to have the same distribution as the Cheetah. But while the Caracal or ‘Siyahgosh’ hasn’t gone extinct, it’s struggling to survive. So, a team of researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun; the Indian Space Research Organization, Ahmedabad; the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and the Leo Foundation, Wageningen, The Netherlands have found the most suitable spots for Caracals to survive in India.

These cats were used by the British during their hunting expeditions but now fall under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 because of large scale hunting, habitat decline and illegal trading. Firoz Shah Tughlaq had them in his hunting establishment and Abul Fazl records that “Akbar was very fond of using this plucky little animal for hunting purposes” because it was capable of hunting animals much larger than itself like the Barasingha, Nilgai and Cheetal apart from kites, cranes and crows.

These are the potential states where its habitat can be conserved and restored (MAP):
Rajasthan(25,221.38 sq.km)
Gujarat (16,652.1 sq km)
Madhya Pradesh (6416.01 sq km)
Haryana (191.36 sq km)
Uttar Pradesh (131.11 sq km)
Maharashtra (34.17 sq km)

Most suitable areas on a district level are these (MAP):
Kutch(Gujarat )
Sheopur, Morena, and Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh)
Sirohi, Jalore, Alwar, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Dhaulpur, Bundi, Baran, Jaipur, Tonk and Dausa(Rajasthan)

The ecosystems within which they will be able to survive and breed well are (MAP)Kutch, the Malwa Plateau, the Aravalli Hill Range and the Bundelkhand Region. Since many of these areas already fall within protected reserves like (MAP)Kachchh Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) in Gujarat, the tiger reserves of Ranthambhore, Mukundra hills, Sariska and the sanctuaries of Kumbhalgarh, Mount Abu and TodgarhRaoli in Rajasthan and the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, conservation efforts become easy to execute.