Serval is a wild cat native to Africa. It has a yellowish to orange fur covered in black spots. Some of the spots blend together to give them the appearance of stripes. It has a long neck, big ears and long legs.
It is one of the best hunters in the wild cat kingdom.
Its success rate is 50%, while other cat species have only 10% success rate. It hunts both during the day and night. Its predators are leopards, hyenas and dogs. Humans kill them for fur. Cubs are blind at birth and weigh only 250 gram. They will open their eyes and double their size in two weeks.
Unfortunately, as with most carnivores, serval populations are at risk. They are not only suffering from loss of habitat, but they are also destroyed when suspected of killing domestic fowl.
Servals are important small hunters that, unlike large carnivores, eat a wide variety of smaller prey, such as rodents and birds. Because the over-population of rodents poses such a direct threat to the environment and agricultural crops, servals and other small carnivores are extremely important to the balance of many ecosystems.
Picture Credit : Google
