Serval is a medium-sized cat, the length of its body is 59-92 cm. The tail of the serval is rather short – from 20 to 45 cm. The legs of the serval are the longest relative to the size of the body among all the felines, due to the length legs 20 cm higher than the analogous body along the length of the ocelot and 12 cm higher than the caracal, whose weight is the same as that of the servoval – up to 18 kg. High growth needs a serval to see the prey in the tall grass.
In addition to high growth, the serval has the largest ears relative to the size of the body among the felines, although the ears of the serpent are inferior in length to the ears of the African fennel fox. Big ears need a serval to hear their main prey – small rodents.
Serval lives only in Africa, inhabiting mostly savannahs south of the Sahara. Servals are also found in mountainous areas at an altitude of 3 km. Servals avoid deserts, because need open water sources, at the same time, servals do not like the wet equatorial forests, which are only found on their fringes. Despite the fact that people and large cats (for example, leopards) are hunting for servals, the number of servals in nature is stable and they do not belong to endangered species. Only one of the 12 subspecies of serval living in North Africa is under threat of extinction.
Serval is an overnight predator. 90% of its production is small animals with a body weight of less than 200 grams. Basically it’s rodents. Usually, the serval during the hunt stays motionless for up to 15 minutes and hears any rustles. Seeing or hearing prey, serval jumps after her.
Jumping lengthwise from the seat can reach 3.6 meters. Also a good high jump jockey. Jumping up 3 meters up, he can shoot down birds in flight. Long legs of the serval allow him to reach speeds of up to 80 km / h. This speed serval can use in hunting for antelopes, gazelles, deer.
