About Leptailurus serval (Schreber, 1776)
Leptailurus serval, commonly known as the serval, is a slender, medium-sized wild cat. It measures 54 to 62 cm (21–24 in) tall at the shoulder, with a typical head-and-body length between 67 and 100 cm (26–39 in). Males are sturdier than females; servals weigh 8 to 18 kg (18–40 lb), with females generally being lighter. Its most notable features include a small head, large ears, a spotted and striped coat, long legs, and a black-tipped tail around 30 cm (12 in) long. Relative to its body size, the serval has the longest legs of any cat, a trait caused largely by greatly elongated metatarsal bones in the feet. Its toes are also elongated and unusually mobile. The serval's base coat ranges from golden-yellow to buff, and is heavily marked with black spots and stripes that vary greatly in size across individuals. Key facial features include a whitish chin, spots and streaks on the cheeks and forehead, brownish or greenish eyes, and white whiskers on the snout and near the ears. The backs of the ears are black with a white horizontal band across the middle. Three to four black stripes run from the back of the head onto the shoulders, then break into rows of spots. The white underbelly has dense, fluffy basal fur, with soft protective guard hairs 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) long. Guard hairs reach up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long on the neck, back and flanks, and only 1 cm (0.39 in) long on the face. The serval has a good sense of smell, hearing and vision. It resembles the sympatric caracal, but has a narrower spoor, a rounder skull, and lacks the caracal's prominent ear tufts. Its closely set ears can rotate up to 180 degrees independently of one another, which helps it locate prey efficiently. Both leucistic and melanistic servals have been observed in captivity. The melanistic variant has also been seen in the wild, with most wild melanistic servals recorded in Kenya. In North Africa, the serval is only known to exist in Morocco, and has been reintroduced in Tunisia, but is thought to be extinct in Algeria. In this region, it lives in semi-arid areas and cork oak forests near the Mediterranean Sea, and avoids rainforests and arid areas. It occurs across the Sahel, and is widespread across Southern Africa. It can inhabit grasslands, moorlands, and bamboo thickets at high altitudes up to 3,800 m (12,500 ft) on Mount Kilimanjaro. It prefers areas close to water bodies such as wetlands and savannas, that offer cover like reeds and tall grasses. In the East Sudanian Savanna, it was recorded in the transboundary Dinder–Alatash protected area complex during surveys conducted between 2015 and 2018. In Zambia's Luambe National Park, the population density was recorded as 0.1/km2 (0.26/sq mi) in 2011. In South Africa, the serval has been recorded in Free State, eastern Northern Cape, and southern North West. In Namibia, it is present in Khaudum and Mudumu National Parks. The serval is active both during the day and at night, with activity peaks typically in early morning, around twilight, and at midnight. It may be active for longer periods on cool or rainy days, and rests or grooms itself in the shade of bushes and grasses during hot midday hours. Servals stay cautious of their surroundings, though they may be less alert when no large carnivores or prey animals are nearby. Servals can walk up to 2 to 4 km (1.2 to 2.5 mi) every night, and often use established trails to reach specific hunting areas. The serval is a solitary animal, with little social interaction outside the mating season, when opposite-sex pairs may stay together. The only long-term social bond is between a mother and her cubs; cubs leave their mother when they are one year old. Both males and females establish home ranges, and are most active only within specific core regions inside these ranges. Home ranges vary in size from 10 to 32 km2 (3.9 to 12.4 sq mi); prey density, cover availability, and human interference are thought to be key factors affecting their size. Home ranges may overlap extensively, but the occupying servals interact very little. Aggressive encounters are rare, as servals generally avoid one another rather than fighting to defend ranges. When two adult servals clash over territory, they typically engage in a ritualistic display where one places a paw on the other's chest while observing the rival closely; this interaction rarely escalates to a fight. Agonistic behavior includes vertical head movement, unlike the horizontal head movement seen in other cats, along with raising the hair and tail, displaying the teeth and the white band on the ears, and yowling. Servals mark their ranges and preferred paths by spraying urine on nearby vegetation, dropping scats along routes, and rubbing their mouths on grasses or the ground while releasing saliva. Servals tend to be sedentary, and only shift a few kilometers away even when they leave their original range. The serval is vulnerable to hyenas and African wild dogs. It will seek cover to escape a predator's view, and if the predator is very close, it immediately flees in long leaps, changing direction frequently with its tail raised. The serval is an efficient, though not frequent, climber; one individual was recorded climbing a tree to a height of over 9 m (30 ft) to escape dogs. Like many cats, the serval can purr; it also produces a high-pitched chirp, and can hiss, cackle, growl, grunt, and meow. Both male and female servals reach sexual maturity between one and two years old. Oestrus in females lasts one to four days, and typically occurs once or twice a year; it can occur three or four times a year if a female loses her litter. Observations of captive servals show that when a female enters oestrus, the rate of urine-marking increases for both the female and nearby males. In his 1997 book East African Mammals, zoologist Jonathan Kingdon documented the behavior of an oestrus female serval: he noted she would roam restlessly, spray urine frequently while holding her vibrating tail vertically, rub her head near the marking site, salivate continuously, make sharp, short miaows audible from a distance, and rub her mouth and cheeks against the face of an approaching male. Mating timing varies by geography; birth peaks occur in winter in Botswana, and toward the end of the dry season in the Ngorongoro Crater. A common trend across the serval's range is that births happen before the breeding season of murid rodents. Gestation lasts two to three months, after which a litter of one to four kittens is born. Births happen in secluded locations, such as dense vegetation or burrows abandoned by aardvarks and porcupines. Newborns are blind, weigh roughly 250 g (9 oz), and have soft, woolly fur that is greyer than adult fur, with unclear markings. Their eyes open between nine and thirteen days after birth. Weaning starts one month after birth; the mother brings small kills to her kittens and calls out to them as she approaches the den. A mother with young kittens rests significantly less, and spends almost twice as much time and energy hunting as other servals. If disturbed, the mother moves her kittens one by one to a more secure location. Kittens eventually begin accompanying their mother on hunts. At around six months old, they grow their permanent canines and start hunting on their own. They leave their mother at about 12 months of age, and can reach sexual maturity between 12 and 25 months old. The serval has a life expectancy of about 10 years in the wild, and up to 20 years in captivity.
