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Reports surfaced last Wednesday, that a female caracal (also known as a desert lynx) had been captured after biting several IDF soldiers near the Egyptian border. The animal was transferred to the wildlife hospital at the Safari in Ramat Gan for examination. In the days following the reports, the desert lynx became a celebrated figure in Egypt, with some praising the animal for having "chosen" to attack Israeli soldiers.
Egyptian and Arab social media platforms, websites and news channels were flooded with images, videos, articles and posts glorifying the animal that attacked what they referred to as "occupation soldiers."
Some edited images depicted the animal wearing a keffiyeh or a headband bearing the insignia of Hamas’ military wing. Other images showed a desert lynx stepping on an Israeli flag or attacking IDF soldiers.
A video of Egyptian children playing with a desert lynx at home without fear also circulated online. In several posts, the animal was compared to Egyptian border guard Mohamed Salah, who carried out a deadly attack on Israeli soldiers in June 2023, killing three IDF troops.
Social media posts praising the feline included captions such as "Thank you, Egyptian caracal," "Even our animals know you (Israel) are the enemy," and "Even nature rejects your existence." An artificial intelligence-generated video also appeared online, featuring a desert lynx alongside a Palestinian flag, "recounting" the attack, speaking out against IDF soldiers and calling for similar actions.
Egyptian artists also weighed in on the incident, joking about it on social media. Actor Mohamed Diab posted a doctored image of himself with a desert lynx on Facebook, writing "120 million caracals" — a reference to Egypt’s estimated population — and adding the hashtag #EgyptianCaracal, which has been widely shared in recent days.
Since the event, the species has gained significant interest in Egypt. On Saturday, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Saba published an article titled "The story of the Egyptian caracal, the predator that tasted the flesh of Israeli soldiers on the border."
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The piece noted a sharp rise in online searches about the animal and growing public curiosity about "the nature of this rare creature."
The newspaper interviewed several experts who described the desert lynx’s agility and evasive abilities, noting that it belongs to the feline family. The article detailed that the medium-sized predator measures between 60 and 130 centimeters (24 and 51 inches) in length and relies on its speed, which can reach up to 80 km/h (50 mph), to hunt.
It also added that the species prefers dry regions with minimal rainfall and feeds on small animals such as hares, rodents and birds.
Ahmed Wahid, a wildlife photographer, told the outlet that the desert lynx is common in the Sinai Peninsula and that, according to Israeli reports, the recent attack involved a female.
Wahid speculated that IDF soldiers may have approached her cubs, prompting her to attack in defense. He stressed that the desert lynx does not typically attack humans unless it perceives a threat to offspring.
The Egyptian news site Al-Qahera 24 interviewed a man introduced as an "animal breeder from Suez" who owns a desert lynx. He claimed that demand for the animal had surged following the attack on the soldiers.
"Many people contacted me asking about the caracal. They wanted to take pictures with it or even buy one. Then I saw the news and understood — the caracal is now a national, Arab hero. It attacked, or at least its species attacked, the occupation soldiers."
The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm also covered the incident with an article titled "From mice to Egyptian caracals, the animal kingdom attacks the Israeli occupation army." The report referenced an August 2024 incident at a tent camp in the IDF’s Amiad base in the Upper Galilee, where soldiers awoke in panic after being bitten on the nose and ears by rats.