We have 6 servals here at Cheetah Experience, quite often the smaller cats are overlooked compared to the much larger, and some would say more impressive cats… Visitors come to Cheetah Experience expecting to see, well Cheetahs of course… When they drive in they may cast a glance towards the serval enclosures as they pass, and they may question wether they just saw a small cheetah, or something else…. When we explain that what they saw was in fact a Serval.. or in Africaans the tierboskat (tiger bush cat) they show little interest.. Its not until we have entered the enclosure of either Bailey, or Mikey, Angie and Alegra that they quickly become enchanted by these smaller cats… As Alegra weaves in an out of the guest legs, Angie chases shadows in her pool, or Mikey stretches in the most unimaginable positions that their interest grows… Many people ask exclaim that they are almost like house cats, and inevitabley we are asked wether Servals can make good house pets…. The volunteers laugh and explain that while servals are cute and fluffy at times, they are very inquisative, love to jump and that they are still very much wild animals… Anyone who has every had a serval in their house will tell you that nothing is safe from the twitching nose of a serval, things WILL be knocked over, curtains CAN be climbed, Toys WILL not last so long…. then there comes the challange of keeping them contained… Did you know that Servals can jump 3.5 metres straight up!!?? In the wild a Servals diet consists mainly of birds! They jump up and catch the bird in a clapping motionServals will also hunt small mammals, frogs and even fish! Servals have great big ears, a bit like the wolf in Red Riding Hood… ”ÄLL THE BETTER TO HEAR YOU WITH”
They can detect even the slightest of movements and catch their prey with a clapping motion! They have a sucess rate of 50% !
Another Unique thing about the Servals is the coat markings, Servals have spots AND stripes…. The stripes extend along the back, their tails have stripe patterns and then on their legs, while the spots fill in the rest of the body… Unfortubnately these striking markings have attracted the attention of poachers, Servals quite often find themselves victim to the fur trade…. It can take 25 Serval pelts to make one fur coat… Shocking hey!!
I said before that servals sometimes catch fish and frogs, they have a liking of water that is not unknown in the cat world, but definately not a common thing… most cats as im sure you knoe HATE water…. Leopards and Tigers are a couple of other exceptions…. Our Servals will waste away a whole afternoon puddling about in their pond, or around the trees where we have watered… If Angie gets a hold of the hose however then we HAVE a problem!!! A tug of war contest begins!! Its a battle of wills that the volunteers struggle to win… so now we have to be a bit smarter and make sure Angie is put into the other camp with the door firmly closed!
Once you know all these Serval facts im sure you will fall a little bit more in love with these Wonderous cats!
Claire
