IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Allen, G.O. | |
| Caracal and hunting leopard in Mirzapur, U. P | |
| 1921 Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (26): 1041-1041 | |
The following notes on two uncommon mammals in Mirzapur District may perhaps be of interest in connection with the Survey. On 28th December 1912, during a sambhar beat in light jungle about 25 miles S. of the Ganges, a small animal that I did not recognize came out at very close range. I blew a large piece of its back away with a 500 Express but it made off and took refuge in a small nala where it was shortly afterwards despatched with a shot gun. It proved to be a female lynx (_F. caracal_). My measurement made it 34 inches long (body 27 and tail 7) apparently a rather small example. Unfortunately the only memento I have of it are the claws, as shortly after I got the head mounted it was destroyed in a bungalow fire. This is considered locally a distinctly rare animal. I saw not long ago in the possession of a friend a very fine skin of a cheetah (_C. jubatus_) that had been killed in 1916 by villagers about 30 miles South of Mirzapur, which is on the Ganges near Benares. I think about 5 have been obtained in the last 25 years, one being shot while it was in the act of stalking a sambhar. The one whose skind I saw had been killed in the neighbourhood of a grassy plain which held some Black buck. |
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