What Is a Serval?
The serval cat is a medium-sized cat indigenous to central and southern Africa. These gorgeous cats are characterized by their golden-yellow coats covered with black stripes and spots, as well as their incredibly long legs. In proportion to its slender body, the serval has a relatively small head and extraordinarily long legs. In fact, the serval has the longest legs of any cat in comparison to its body size. While females are smaller than males, these cats average in height between 21-24 inches to the shoulder, have a body length between 26-39 inches (with a black-tipped tail roughly 12 inches long), and weigh between 18-40 pounds. Their life expectancy in the wild is 10 years, and 20 in captivity.
How Do Servals Hunt?
Preferring to inhabit semi-arid forests, grasslands, moorlands, and thickets, the serval is typically found near bodies of water like wetlands and savannas that provide cover in reeds or tall grasses. Rather than utilizing trees to hide prey like many of its larger feline cousins, the serval hides its kills under dead leaves and grasses. However, the serval rarely kills anything larger than 7 pounds. In fact it has been observed that 90% of the serval’s prey is this small, subsisting mostly of rodents, small birds, frogs, insects and reptiles. That’s not to say they can’t take down something as large as a small antelope; this cat can jump up to 13 feet in the air and leap in a run almost 7 feet high, covering a distance of almost 12 feet! Interestingly, servals are known to dress prey before consuming it, meaning they will remove the organs of an animal and pluck the feathers from birds before settling down to the meal. With a strong sense of hearing, the serval can lie in wait for up to 15 minutes, motionlessly watching prey come close enough to attack. While rarely engaging in scavenging, the serval is an awesome hunter with roughly 50% of their hunting attempts being successful.
How Do Servals Live?
Though servals are solitary cats and are almost never seen in the company of other servals (other than mothers with their cubs which generally leave when they are a year old), they are not necessarily territorial. In fact, most servals live in home ranges that overlap with other servals, and while posturing and ritualistic behavior may be exhibited against one another, servals rarely fight each other and prefer to avoid each other instead of engaging at all. Similarly, when threatened by hyenas, wild dogs, or humans, they prefer to run and hide than stand and fight.
Are Servals Endangered?
Besides wild animals, the biggest threat to the serval is the degradation of its habitat. Fortunately, the trade of its skin and its use in traditional medicine is currently on the decline, and the serval is considered Least Concern on the endangered animals list. However, while there are hunting regulations in several countries (and servals are occasionally killed to protect livestock), many countries in Africa prohibit the hunting of servals altogether.
Serval Popularity
As with many African cats, the serval was enjoyed by ancient Egyptians and is still popular amongst humans today. Servals can purr and are very affectionate creatures when raised with humans. In fact, servals are often bred with domestic cats to create Savanna cats, a large and admired domestic breed.
Babby Farms Servals
At Babby Farms, our serval is named Kitty, and she’s a fun-loving sweetheart! Watch her sunbathe and play with her favorite toys at the zoo this year!