Theserval (Leptailurus serval) is a wildsmall cat native to Africa. It is widespread insub-Saharan countries, where it inhabits grasslands, wetlands, moorlands and bamboo thickets. Across its range, it occurs in protected areas, and hunting it is either prohibited or regulated in range countries.
It is thesole member of thegenusLeptailurus. Threesubspecies are recognised. The serval is a slender, medium-sized cat that stands 54–62 cm (21–24 in) tall at the shoulder and has a weight range of approximately 9–18 kg (20–40 lb). It is characterised by a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow to buff coat spotted and striped with black, and a short, black-tipped tail. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size.
The serval is a solitarycarnivore and active both by day and at night. It preys on rodents, particularlyvlei rats, small birds, frogs, insects, and reptiles, using its sense of hearing to locate prey. It leaps over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) above the ground to land on the prey on its forefeet, and finally kills it with a bite on the neck or the head. Both sexes establish highly overlappinghome ranges of 10 to 32 km2 (3.9 to 12.4 sq mi), and mark them withfeces andsaliva. Mating takes place at different times of the year in different parts of their range, but typically once or twice a year in an area. After agestational period of two to three months, a litter of one to four is born. The kittens are weaned at the age of one month and begin hunting on their own at six months of age. They leave their mother at the age of around 12 months.
The name "serval" is derived from(lobo-) cerval, i.e. Portuguese for lynx, used byGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1765 for a spotted cat that was kept at the time in the Royal Menagerie inVersailles;[3]lobo-cerval is derived from Latinlupus cervarius, literally and respectively "wolf" and "of or pertaining to deer".[4][5]
The nameLeptailurus derives from the Greekλεπτόςleptós meaning "fine, delicate", andαἴλουροςaílouros meaning "cat".[6]
Felis servalina proposed byWilliam Ogilby in 1839 was based on one serval skin from Sierra Leone with freckle-sized spots.[9]
Felis brachyura proposed byJohann Andreas Wagner in 1841 was also a serval skin from Sierra Leone.[10]
Felis (Serval) togoensis proposed byPaul Matschie in 1893 were two skins and three skulls fromTogo.[11]
Felis servalina pantasticta andF. s. liposticta proposed byReginald Innes Pocock in 1907 were based on one serval fromEntebbe in Uganda with a yellowish fur, and one serval skin fromMombasa in Kenya with dusky spots on its belly.[12]
Felis capensis phillipsi proposed byGlover Morrill Allen in 1914 was a skin and a skeleton of an adult male serval from El Garef at theBlue Nile in Sudan.[13]
Thephylogenetic relationships of the serval have remained in dispute; in 1997, palaeontologists M. C. McKenna and S. K. Bell classifiedLeptailurus as asubgenus ofFelis, while others like O. R. P. Bininda-Edmonds (of theTechnical University of Munich) have grouped it withFelis,Lynx andCaracal. Studies in the 2000s and the 2010s show that the serval, along with the caracal and theAfrican golden cat, forms one of the eight lineages of Felidae. According to a 2006 genetic study, theCaracal lineage came into existence 8.5 million years ago, and the ancestor of this lineage arrived in Africa 8.5–5.6 mya.[2][18]
The phylogenetic relationships of the serval are as follows:[2][18]
In April 1986, the firstsavannah cat, a hybrid between a male serval and a femaledomestic cat, was born; it was larger than a typical domestic kitten and resembled its father in its coat pattern. It appeared to have inherited a few domestic cat traits, such as tameness, from its mother. Thiscat breed may have a dog-like habit of following its owner about, is adept at jumping and leaping, and can be a good swimmer. Over the years it has gained popularity as a pet.[19]
The serval is a slender, medium-sized cat; it stands 54 to 62 cm (21–24 in) at the shoulder and weighs 8 to 18 kg (18–40 lb), but females tend to be lighter. The head-and-body length is typically between 67 and 100 cm (26–39 in).[20] Males tend to be sturdier than females.[21] Prominent characteristics include the small head, large ears, spotted and striped coat, long legs and a black-tipped tail that is around 30 cm (12 in) long.[22][23] The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size, largely due to the greatly elongatedmetatarsal bones in the feet.[24][25] The toes are elongated as well, and unusually mobile.[24]
The coat is basically golden-yellow to buff and extensively marked with black spots and stripes.[21] The spots show great variation in size.[24] Facial features include the whitish chin, spots, and streaks on the cheeks and the forehead, brownish or greenish eyes, white whiskers on thesnout and near the ears, which are black on the back with a white horizontal band in the middle; three to four black stripes run from the back of the head onto the shoulders and then break into rows of spots. The white underbelly has dense and fluffy basal fur, and the soft guard hairs (the layer of fur protecting the basal fur) are 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) long. Guard hairs are up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long on the neck, back and flanks, and are merely 1 cm (0.39 in) long on the face.[23][26] The serval has a good sense of smell, hearing and vision.[23]
The serval is similar to thesympatriccaracal, but has a narrowerspoor, a rounder skull, and lacks its prominent ear tufts.[21] The closely set ears can rotate up to 180 degrees independently of each other[24] and help in locating prey efficiently.[27]
Bothleucistic andmelanistic servals have been observed in captivity. In addition, the melanistic variant has been sighted in the wild,[24] with most melanistic servals having been observed inKenya.[28]
In North Africa, the serval is known only fromMorocco and has been reintroduced inTunisia, but is feared to be extinct inAlgeria. It inhabits semi-arid areas andcork oak forests close to theMediterranean Sea, but avoids rainforests and arid areas. It occurs in theSahel, and is widespread inSouthern Africa. It inhabits grasslands, moorlands, and bamboo thickets at high altitudes up to 3,800 m (12,500 ft) onMount Kilimanjaro. It prefers areas close to water bodies such aswetland andsavanna, which provide cover such asreeds and tall grasses.[1][21] In theEast Sudanian Savanna, it was recorded in the transboundaryDinder–Alatash protected area complex during surveys between 2015 and 2018.[29]
The serval's white spots on the backs of its ears are thought to play an important role in communication.[33]
The serval is active in the day as well as at night; activity might peak in early morning, around twilight, and at midnight. Servals might be active for a longer time on cool or rainy days. During the hot midday, they rest orgroom themselves in the shade of bushes and grasses. Servals remain cautious of their vicinity, though they may be less alert when no large carnivores or prey animals are around. Servals walk as much as 2 to 4 km (1.2 to 2.5 mi) every night.[22][20] Servals will often use special trails to reach certain hunting areas. A solitary animal, there is little social interaction among servals except in the mating season, when pairs of opposite sexes may stay together. The only long-lasting bond appears to be of the mother and her cubs, which leave their mother only when they are a year old.[21]
Both males and females establishhome ranges, and are most active only in certain regions ('core areas') within them. The area of these ranges can vary from 10 to 32 km2 (3.9 to 12.4 sq mi); prey density, availability of cover and human interference could be significant factors in determining their size.[21][34] Home ranges might overlap extensively, but occupants show minimal interaction. Aggressive encounters are rare, as servals appear to mutually avoid one another rather than fight and defend their ranges. On occasions where two adult servals meet in conflict over territory, a ritualistic display may ensue, in which one will place a paw on the other's chest while observing their rival closely; this interaction rarely escalates into a fight.[35][36]
Agonistic behavior involves vertical movement of the head (contrary to the horizontal movement observed in other cats), raising the hair and the tail, displaying the teeth and the white band on the ears, and yowling. Individuals mark their ranges and preferred paths byspraying urine on nearby vegetation, dropping scats along the way, and rubbing their mouths on grasses or the ground while releasing saliva. Servals tend to be sedentary, shifting only a few kilometres away even if they leave their range.[21][20]
The serval is vulnerable tohyenas andAfrican wild dogs. It will seek cover to escape its view, and, if the predator is very close, immediately flee in long leaps, changing its direction frequently and with the tail raised.[20] The serval is an efficient, though not frequent, climber; an individual was observed to have climbed a tree to a height of more than 9 m (30 ft) to escape dogs.[24] Like many cats, the serval is able topurr;[37] it also has a high-pitched chirp, and can hiss, cackle, growl, grunt, and meow.[24]
The serval locates prey by its strong sense of hearing. It remains motionless for up to 15 minutes; when prey is within range, it jumps with all four feet up to 4 m (13 ft) in the air and attacks with its front paws.[39] To kill small prey, it slowly stalks it, then pounces on it with the forefeet directed toward the chest, and finally lands on it with its forelegs outstretched. The prey, receiving a blow from one or both of the serval's forepaws, is incapacitated, and the serval bites it on the head or the neck and immediately swallows it. Snakes are dealt more blows and even bites, and may be consumed even as they are moving. Larger prey, such as larger birds, are killed by a sprint followed by a leap to catch them as they are trying to flee, and are eaten slowly. Servals have been observedcaching large kills to be consumed later by concealing them in dead leaves and grasses. Servals typically get rid of the internal organs of rodents while eating, and pluck feathers from birds before consuming them. During a leap, a serval can reach more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) above the ground and cover a horizontal distance of up to 3.6 m (11 ft 10 in). Servals appear to be efficient hunters; a study inNgorongoro showed that servals were successful in half of their hunting attempts, regardless of the time of hunting, and a mother serval was found to have a success rate of 62%. The number of kills in a 24-hour period averaged 15 to 16.Scavenging has been observed, but very rarely.[24][21]
Both sexes becomesexually mature when they are one to two years old.Oestrus in females lasts one to four days; it typically occurs once or twice a year, though it can occur three or four times a year if the mother loses her litters.[41] Observations of captive servals suggest that when a female enters oestrus, the rate of urine-marking increases in her as well as the males in her vicinity. ZoologistJonathan Kingdon described the behavior of a female serval in oestrus in his 1997 bookEast African Mammals. He noted that she would roam restlessly, spray urine frequently holding her vibrating tail in a vertical manner, rub her head near the place she has marked, salivate continuously, give out sharp and short "miaow"s that can be heard for quite a distance, and rub her mouth and cheeks against the face of an approaching male. The time when mating takes place varies geographically; births peak in winter in Botswana, and toward the end of the dry season in theNgorongoro Crater. A trend generally observed across the range is that births precede the breeding season ofmurid rodents.[24]
Gestation lasts for two to three months, following which a litter of one to four kittens is born. Births take place in secluded areas, for example in dense vegetation or burrows abandoned by aardvarks and porcupines. Blind at birth, newborns weigh nearly 250 g (9 oz) and have soft, woolly hair (greyer than in adults) and unclear markings. The eyes open after nine to thirteen days. Weaning begins a month after birth; the mother brings small kills to her kittens and calls out to them as she approaches the "den".[24] A mother with young kittens rests for a notably lesser time and has to spend almost twice the time and energy for hunting than do other servals.[34] If disturbed, the mother shifts her kittens one by one to a more secure place.[26] Kittens eventually start accompanying their mother to hunts. At around six months, they acquire their permanentcanines and begin to hunt themselves; they leave their mother at about 12 months of age. They may reach sexual maturity from 12 to 25 months of age.[24] Life expectancy is about 10 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity.[42]
Thedegradation ofwetlands andgrasslands is a major threat to the survival of the serval. Trade of serval skins, though on the decline, still occurs in countries such as Benin and Senegal. In West Africa, the serval has significance intraditional medicine. Pastoralists often kill servals to protect their livestock, though servals generally do not prey on livestock.[1]
The serval is listed asleast concern on theIUCN Red List, and is included inCITES AppendixII. It occurs in several protected areas across its range. Hunting of servals is prohibited in Algeria, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tunisia, and South Africa'sCape Province; hunting regulations apply in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.[1]
The association of servals with human beings dates to the time ofAncient Egypt.[43] Servals are depicted as gifts or traded objects fromNubia in Egyptian art.[44]
Servals are occasionally kept as pets, although their wild nature means that ownership of servals is regulated in some countries.[45][46][47] Servals can also be crossed withdomestic cats to produce thesavannah cat breed.[48][49]
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