This grassland is their land
Servals are at home among tall grasses in central Africa. Because they can find food easily in marshes and reed beds, they prefer these areas over arid lands, including the Sahara.
Serving a serval
Servals eat rodents and birds in the wild, and they eat meat at the zoo.
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With long legs and fur that’s perfect for camouflaging, the serval is well adapted for life in the grasslands. The serval’s enormous ears help it to locate prey rustling in the grass; while their long legs allow it to see above the grass line, scan for movement, and pounce when the time is right.
Quick cat
Servals are mostly solitary animals and are also mostly nocturnal (active at night). The serval can run or bound quickly for short distances. They can leap 10 feet upward and catch birds in the air. Servals also have been seen bounding in random patterns through tall grass, spooking prey into flight and then pouncing.
Serval mothering
There is no definite mating season, but most births tend to occur in the warm months from September to April. Females can give birth twice a year to an average of about 2 babies in a litter. The babies weigh only 8 or 9 ounces and open their eyes 9 days after birth. A mother serval will shelter her vulnerable newborns in a rock den or perhaps in the abandoned burrow of an aardvark or porcupine. After about nine months or so, though, she will chase them off to let them know it’s time for them to live on their own.
