This cat knows his way round town

Published: 03 August 2015

LADUMA is no ordinary Capeto-nian, but he enjoys what the city has to offer as he wanders around Cape Town’s prime real estate.

He is an adult caracal or rooikat, as South Africans prefer to call the predator who has proved to be hugely beneficial to re-searchers as part of a project on the population size and health of wild animals in the Cape Peninsula.

He was caught and fitted with a collar that allows the researchers to track him as he moves from eco-logically rich spaces around the peninsula to the city suburbs.

The leader of the Urban Caracal Project, University of Cape Town wildlife biologist Dr Laurel Serieys, said: “Data from the GPS-enabled collar shows that about a week before the March fires, he ventured into Constantia. Surprisingly, he stayed in this area even as massive fires broke out.”

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