Leptailurus serval

11. Serval Leptailurus serval French: Serval / German: Serval / : Serval Taxonomy. Felis serval Schreber, 1776, Cape region of South Africa. Subspecific taxonomy in need of revision. Seven subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. L. s. serval Schreber, 1776 — S Zaire and Tanzania, S to Eastern Cape, South Africa. L. s. brachyurus Wagner, 1841 — Sierra Leone. L. s. constantinus Forster, 1780 — N Morocco and Algeria. On following pages: 12. African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata); 13. Caracal (Caracal caracal). L. s. hindet Wroughton, 1910 — Kenya E ofthe Rift Valley. L. s. liptostictus Pocock, 1907 — Uganda, Zaire, and N Angola. L. s. phillipsi G. M. Allen, 1914 — Lake Chad E to Ethiopian highlands. L. s. tanae Pocock, 1944 — dry zone of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and N Somalia. Descriptive notes. Head-body 59-92 cm, tail 20-38 cm; weight 7-13. 5 kg, with adult malesslightly larger than adult females. Tall, lightly-built cats with a short tail. Background coat color is tawny, marked with fine, freckle-sized black dots or larger black spots along the back and sides. The spots may form bars on the neck, shoulders, and limbs. The spot pattern is similar to that of the Cheetah and the skins of the two species are sometimes confused. Melanistic individuals are common in the highlands of Kenya and Ethiopia. Forits size, has the longest legs of any member of the cat family. Elongated metatarsal bones add considerably to the cat’s height. An adult stands 60 cm at the shoulder— more than 20 cm taller than the similarsized Ocelot. The face is small and delicate and the skull is lightly built. Ears are extremely large and oval shaped; backs of ears are black and marked with a white spot or line. Auditory bullae are large and well-developed. Habitat. Found in almostall types of grasslands and savannas in Africa. Their distribution is closely tied to water and associated vegetation, reed beds and marshes. Sometimes found along watercourses that penetrate semi-desert and desert and in forest areas interspersed with grassy glades and edges. Also found in subalpine habitats and high moorlands to 3000 m, and in farmlands with high rodent densities. They are absent from the dense rain forests of Central Africa. Use medium and tall grasslands and reed bedsas rest sites, although in areas with greater disturbance from people and livestock frequently retreat to patches of woody vegetation during the day. Food and Feeding. Specialized small mammal predators, well equipped to capture rodents in tall grass. Over 90% of the diet consists of prey weighing less than 200 g. Murid rodents dominate the diet. The multimammate mouse, Vlei rat, pygmy mouse, and various grass mice make up the bulk of the diet. Other murid prey include water rats, mole rats, gerbils, climbing mice, pouched mice, veld rats, groove-toothed rats, and black rats. Also eat shrews (Soricidae), golden moles (Chrysochloridae), cane rats (Thryonomyidae), and Scrub Hare (Lepus saxatilis). They occasionally take larger prey such as young Thomson's Gazelle and duikers, flamingos, black-bellied bustards (Lzssotis melanogaster), and rails. They also prey on smaller birds such as waxbills and quailfinches, larks, pipits, weavers, cisticolas, and swallows. Other prey includes grass and sand snakes (Colubridae), lizards (Agamidae), frogs, crabs, grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts. They have a specialized, almost foxlike, hunting style. Their long legs provide the large ears with a raised platform to “hear into” the tall grass. Long mobile toes and strong curved claws serve to hook prey from burrows or beneath vegetation. They locate their prey primarily by hearing and when hunting the cat walks slowly, stopping periodically to listen. It may stop and sit for 15 minutes at a time, scanning the area for sounds. When it hears something move it locates the exact position of the sound, then pounceslike a fox, leaping into the air and striking the prey with a blow from one or both feet. A single pounce may span 3-6 m and may be over one meter high.If the initial pounce is not successful it may be followed with a series ofstiff-legged bouncing jumps. Have been seen leaping 2-3 m into the air to seize birds and insects in flight. They also probe holes and crevices for nestling birds and rodents and can hook live fish out of water. Strong winds disruptits ability to hear and pinpoint the location of prey and hunting is often curtailed on windy days. Activity patterns. In Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, were largely crepuscular. Typically rested during midday and occasionally at night. One female increased her daytime activity significantly when she had kittens, spending more time traveling in search of food. In the Kamberg Biosphere Reserve, Natal, were predominantly nocturnal, possibly because of human disturbance. Movements, Home range and Social organization. In the Ngorongoro Crater an adult male and an female traveled an estimated at 2-4 km per night. Home range sizes of an adult male and an adult female in the Crater were at least 11-6 and 9-5 km? respectively. The full extent of their ranges could not be ascertained because they were not radio-tagged and there were times when they disappeared for several months from their normal haunts. However, one adult female was repeatedly sighted in the same area over a nine-year period, indicating strong site fidelity. Two radio-collaredfemales in the farmland that is part of the Kamberg Biosphere Reserve, Natal, had home ranges of 19-8 and 15-8 km? a tagged male’s range was 31-5 km? The adult male’s range in the Crater overlapped the smaller ranges of at least two adult females, but the home ranges of three adult females showed little overlap. In Kamberg, the adult male’s range overlapped extensively with that of an adult female. Two adult females utilized common areas, but they did so at different times. Adults of both sexes regularly scent mark as they move about their home ranges, although males mark at a much higher frequency. Urine spraying on trees, bushes, and other conspicuous objects is the most frequent type of marking, but also make scrape marks on the ground with their foreand hindfeet and leave their feces in prominent locations. They are solitary animals: sighting of groups or pairs consist of a mother with her young or a mating pair. Density estimates vary from eight per 100 km? in Natal’s Kamberg Biosphere Reserve to 41 per 100 km? in Ngorongoro Crater. Breeding. Females are polyestrous and in general births seem to occur about a month before the peak in murid rodent reproduction. Estruslasts from 1-4 days, and after a gestation period of about 74 days femalestypically give birth to two kittens (range 1-4 young). Young weigh about 250 g at birth. Birth dens are usually in dense vegetation or disused Aardvark or porcupine burrows. The mother begins to bring food back to the den when young are about a month old. Young acquire their permanent canine teeth at aboutsix months of age and begin to hunt for themselves shortly thereafter. Newly independent young are sometimes allowed to remain within their natal range for a year or more. In captivity, there are records of females becoming sexually mature when they were just over a year old, and a male wasfirst seen mating at 17 months of age. Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Listed as species of Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Not protected by national legislation over most ofits geographic range. Widely distributed in grasslands south of the Sahara but are declining in number in the west and extreme south of Africa. Their continued existence in Morocco and Algeria is doubtful. As specialized rodent hunters, present species is highly tolerant of agricultural activities and can play an important role in keeping rodent numbers down. They readily adapt to abandoned cultivation and second growth areas and as long as they are not persecuted may be able to live alongside humansin rural agricultural areas. Occasionally prey on poultry and young sheep and goats, but the problem is not considered serious. Attain their highest densities in wetland areas and wetland conservation is thought to be the key to their conservation. Bibliography. Boland (1990), Boland & Perrin (1993), Geertsema (1976, 1981, 1985), Kingdon (1971-1982), Mellen (1993), Nowell & Jackson (1996), Rosevear (1974), Smithers (1978), Stuart (1985), Sunquist & Sunquist (2002), Wackernagel (1968).Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2009, Felidae, pp. 54-168 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 1 Carnivores, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 141-142, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.637689