African Lynx

What's the African lynx? It is an early name for the well-known, small-to-medium sized wild cat species the caracal (Caracal caracal and formerly Felis caracal). It was the given name in the early days of the taxonomy of the wild cat species as it was and is the only lynx-like animal in Africa. I think this is a reference to the ear tufts.  It has also been called the desert lynx and Persian lynx.

As the caracal's distribution includes the Middle East and western Asia (or did) the term African lynx was abandoned in favour of 'caracal'.

Caracal formerly the 'African lynx'. Image: MikeB based on one in the public domain.