Proportionally, it has the longest legs of any feline. Native to Africa, the serval ( Leptailurus serval ) is a fast, spotted predator that the untrained eye may mistake for the larger, faster cheetah.
Cheetahs like to run over their victims, but the serval's tall limbs serve a different purpose. Capable of jumping 3 meters vertically, this wild cat treats attacking as an art form. It's also a great listener, which is bad news for rodents.
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- Servais have an advantage over their prey
- Have you seen Serval's ears?
- By leaps and bounds – these cats can jump
- Diet, mating habits and predators
Servais have an advantage over their prey
Weighing up to pounds, adult servals get much heavier than your Aunt Beth's pampered tabby cat. On the other hand – or should we say “paw”? – this species is completely light compared to some other felines from Africa. Cheetahs, for example, can weigh between 34 and 64 kg (75 to 140 pounds) when they reach adulthood.
Still, there's no other cat built like o Leptailurus serval. Ocelots and servals weigh about the same. However, with a shoulder height of about 2 feet, servals are about 8 inches taller than American wildcats.
Servant legs are quite interesting. As a rule, cats walk on their toes. And the serval is no exception. Clawed and flexible, their fingers are the perfect tools for hooking smaller animals. Whether they're pulling frogs from reed beds or snatching live fish, servals know how to control themselves.
Between the toes and the wrist/ankle, we find a set of bones called metatarsals. Servals have exceptionally long limbs (at least for a cat), which drastically increases the length of all four limbs.
Standing is a useful skill when your home is a savannah. The serval's natural range is vast and bicoastal, stretching from South Africa to the upper Sub-Sahara (and a small patch of Morocco). Broad stereotypes about hydrophobic cats do not apply to this species. Servals like humid areas and most often chase their prey in water-rich areas full of bushes, tall grasses and reed beds.
Have you seen Serval's ears?
Patience is a virtue, so they say. Show us a serval and we'll show you a cat that knows how to wait for the right time.
Legs aren't the only body parts that look a little prolonged. Of course, the face is narrow and the skull is quite small. But, my God, have you seen those ears?! Regarding its size, the Leptailurus serval has the largest ears of the entire feline family.
According to the San Diego Zoo, if its ears were proportionately as large as the serval's, they would be the size of dinner plates. Tall, wide, and movable, serval ears are so sharp that cats can actually hear rodents scurrying underground. Furthermore, they are able to detect high-pitched squeals that are inaudible to us humans.
For all these reasons, servals like to wait and listen to their meals. Cats hunt mainly in the early morning and late afternoon, although night patrols are not out of the question.
By leaps and bounds – these cats can jump
Servals can attack with greater precision than some other cats. Jumping off the ground on all four paws, they will fall on the victim, trapping it under their front paws and killing the unfortunate creature with a powerful bite. Horizontally, servals can cover 12 feet (almost 4 meters) in a single leap.
Birds in flight are not safe around hungry servals; cats can pluck them out of the air.
Jumping also helps servals corner terrified prey. By jumping up and down repeatedly, servals scare the small animals and make them abandon their hiding places.
Flying has the added benefit of helping cats assess their surroundings. But whether they're flying high or standing still, servals are quite observant. Thanks to the species' elongated neck, a serval that gets up on all fours can keep its head 75 centimeters off the ground.
It's better to see you with you.
Certain targets, once detected, are easily dispatched with calculated attacks. Servals can also use their long arms to pluck fish from rivers and drag rodents from deep burrows. Snakes require a different approach; Servals deal with the legless reptiles by kicking them to death.
Leptailurus serval it needs a healthy ecosystem to survive. In the space of a single year, one of these cats can kill and devour around 250 snakes and 4,000 rodents.
Although servals do not refuse the occasional dinner of flamingos, storks or young antelopes, they typically hunt animals weighing 200 grams or less. In addition to all the prey we have already mentioned, servals usually devour crabs, insects, frogs and lizards.
Diet, mating habits and predators
If our world is a dog eat dog world, it is also a cat eat cat world. Leopards are among the serval's few natural predators. (Just like hyenas and wild dogs.)
Like leopards and cheetahs, most servals have yellowish-brown fur with black markings. Servals feature a mixture of spots and stripes, although the exact pattern can vary from one individual to another. On the back of each ear is a white dot surrounded by black fur.
Between mating seasons, servals are often isolated. The parents play no role in raising the kittens; The little ones will spend up to a whole year accompanying their mothers. Adults live and hunt in “home ranges” that cover 10 to 31 square kilometers (4 to 12 square miles). To communicate with other cats, servals rub themselves against – or urinate – against landmarks such as bushes and clumps of grass.
At the species level, the Leptailurus serval it is not considered endangered or even threatened. However, it is now part of a controversial practice in the exotic pet trade.
Servals and domestic cats can successfully interbreed. That's where the Savannah cat comes in, an expensive hybrid between the two that has been around for over 30 years. Savannahs are not like other pet cats; they can weigh a formidable 25 pounds and jump more than 8 feet straight into the air.
Prone to mischief, energetic cats can wreak havoc on all types of household items if left unsupervised. Due to their wild ancestry, some places – like Australia – have banned savannas altogether. Depending on where you live, it may be illegal to own some or all generation savannas.
Now this is interesting
Every now and then someone photographs an all-black serval. These animals have melanism, a genetic mutation that darkens the color of their fur.
