Wild Cats of Africa - The Serval

Serval Serval Leptailurus

Did you know there are ten wild cat species in Africa? Besides the three well known big cats: the lion, leopard and cheetah; there are seven smaller species of wild cats. These are the caracal, serval, African wildcat, black footed cat, sand cat, jungle cat and golden cat.

Serval occur only on the African continent, inhabiting the wetter areas and are absent from the deserts in the north and south west. The name 'Serval' is derived from a Portuguese word meaning "deer-like wolf" (cervus = deer). In Africa it is commonly referred to as a bush cat, and in Afrikaans (South Africa) it is known as a 'tierboskat' which means tiger bush cat.

Serval are similar in size to the Caracal species however are more slender and longer. Serval have a combination spots and stripes on their coats, and they have very large rounded ears for picking up the sounds of prey in long grasses.

The Serval has a very characteristic pouncing technique when hunting rodents. It leaps high into the air and then lands on the prey with its forepaws, stunning the prey in the process.

The Serval was the symbol of the Italian Tomasi family, princes of the island of Lampedusa. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, wrote the famous Italian novel Il Gattopardo. Despite being known as The Leopard in English, the Italian title actually refers to a Serval. One of the Serval's North African ranges is quite near to Lampedusa.

So, in summary, three unique characteristics of a Serval are:

Endemic to Africa
Large ears
Pouncing technique

The Serval is one of the wild cats that are often tamed and kept as exotic pets in the western world. They have also been interbred with the domestic cat to produce the Savannah cat.

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