Serval

About the serval

The serval is a wild small cat native to Africa, widespread across sub-Saharan countries and found in a smaller, reintroduced population in Morocco. It is the only member of the genus Leptailurus, and three subspecies are recognized: the nominate form in Southern Africa, one in Central and West Africa, and one in East Africa. Genetic studies place the serval, along with the caracal and the African golden cat, among eight major lineages of the cat family, with the caracal lineage's ancestors arriving in Africa roughly 5.6 to 8.5 million years ago.

Standing 21 to 24 inches at the shoulder and weighing 18 to 40 pounds, the serval is a slender, medium-sized cat with a small head, large ears, and a golden-yellow to buff coat marked with black spots and stripes. Its tail is short and black-tipped, about 12 inches long. What sets its build apart is its legs: the serval has the longest legs relative to body size of any cat, a result of greatly elongated bones in the feet, and its toes are unusually long and mobile as well. Its ears, black on the back with a white band, can each rotate up to 180 degrees independently, helping it pinpoint prey by sound. Both leucistic (pale) and melanistic (black) servals have been observed, mostly in captivity, though wild melanistic individuals have been seen in Kenya.

The name "serval" traces back to the Portuguese term for lynx, first applied in 1765 to a spotted cat kept in the French royal menagerie at Versailles. In the wild, the serval favors grasslands, wetlands, moorlands, and bamboo thickets, generally avoiding rainforest and true arid desert, and it has been recorded at altitudes up to 12,500 feet on Mount Kilimanjaro. It tends to stay near water, where reeds and tall grass offer cover.

Behavior and diet

Servals are solitary and active both day and night, with activity often peaking in early morning, around twilight, and at midnight; on cool or rainy days they may stay active longer. During the heat of midday they rest or groom in the shade. A serval may walk 1.2 to 2.5 miles in a night, often along established trails to favored hunting grounds. Aside from mating pairs, the only lasting bond is between a mother and her cubs, who stay with her for about a year.

Hunting relies heavily on hearing: a serval can stay motionless for up to 15 minutes listening for prey, then leap more than 6.5 feet into the air to pin small animals with its forepaws before delivering a bite to the head or neck. About 90 percent of what it eats weighs under 200 grams, and rodents make up 80 to 97 percent of the diet, with vlei rats a particular favorite alongside African grass rats, pygmy mice, and multimammate mice. It also takes small birds, frogs, insects, reptiles, and occasionally larger prey such as hares or young antelope, and it eats grass, apparently to aid digestion. A study in the Ngorongoro area found servals successful in about half their hunts, averaging 15 to 16 kills a day, and one mother serval had a 62 percent success rate. Servals sometimes cache large kills in leaf litter for later.

Both sexes mature at one to two years old. Females come into heat for one to four days, typically once or twice a year, and litters of one to four kittens arrive after a two- to three-month gestation, born blind in secluded dens such as abandoned aardvark or porcupine burrows. Weaning starts about a month in, and by around six months the kittens have their permanent canines and begin hunting. They leave their mother at roughly 12 months old. Life expectancy is about 10 years in the wild and as much as 20 in captivity.

Range and habitat

The serval occurs across most of sub-Saharan Africa and is also present in the Sahel. In North Africa it survives only in Morocco, has been reintroduced in Tunisia, and is feared extinct in Algeria, where it once inhabited semi-arid country and cork oak forest near the Mediterranean. Across its wider range it favors grasslands, moorlands, wetlands, and bamboo thickets, generally sticking close to water for the cover that reeds and tall grass provide, and it has been recorded up to 12,500 feet on Mount Kilimanjaro. Surveys between 2015 and 2018 also documented it in the transboundary Dinder-Alatash protected area complex in the East Sudanian Savanna. Home ranges run from about 3.9 to 12.4 square miles for both sexes and can overlap extensively with little conflict between neighbors.

Conservation status

The serval is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and is included in CITES Appendix II, which regulates international trade. Wetland and grassland loss is the main threat to its long-term survival. Trade in serval skins persists in some West African countries, including Benin and Senegal, and the species carries significance in traditional medicine there. Pastoralists sometimes kill servals to protect livestock, even though servals do not typically prey on livestock. The species occurs in numerous protected areas across its range, which helps buffer these pressures.