Serval: The shy cat brother

A serval cat feasts on chicken at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre. Photo BY Edgar R. Batte 

By Edgar R. Batte
Posted 


Sunday, February 28 

2016 at 

02:00

In Summary

Unique.The name Serval is derived from a Portuguese word meaning “wolf-deer.” Edgar R. Batte writes about the serval cat.

There is always someone in a family that never gets attention like the rest. Sometimes it is because of their solitary ways. The serval cat is the member of the cat family where leopards, cheetahs and lions enjoy all attention in different wildlife facilities. The serval lives a quiet life. It is the shy type, more nocturnal than diurnal. There is one at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (Uwec).
From outlook, it looks like a domestic cat though when keenly observed, it has bigger ears that sit on a long neck, and a generally more lump body mass. The carnivore is spotted and his eyes are slightly bigger than the domestic cat’s.

In his territory
I chanced on it during a private photography job and it was feeding on chicken which it gave all attention. No one else is welcome or allowed to come close. The sight of a camera attracted a purr of anger as he escaped the open grassland and went into his semi-cave, a concrete territory which can shelter him from direct sunshine.
There, he dug his teeth into the bloody flesh, using its strong incisors- two in the upper jaw and two in the lower jaw- to chew. The sound of the bones being broken is heard in the quiet haven of its protected area. There are some onlookers and he soon gets uncomfortable and further hides under the concrete mass.
In an article authored in an African Wildlife publication, Madeline Johnson writes that given their nocturnal nature, serval can be hard to glimpse. Several are most often found in the tall grasses of the Savannah.

Population
Uwec’s veterinary doctor, Noel Arinteireho, explains that their population has gone down since their natural habitats have been destroyed by human activities. People hunt it for its pelts. Interestingly, his cousin, the leopard, is one of his threats as he hunts him too.
This particular one lives in solitude and I learn that servals like living in solitude and only look for partners when they are ready to mate. Uwec would have to find a mate for the solitary resident of the wildlife education centre since he lives in captivity.

Did you know?
The serval is a medium-sized African wild cat native to sub-Saharan Africa. As it is considered common and widely distributed, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002.
Serval cats are widely distributed across the sub-Sahara, a large expanse of central and southern Africa. They are found in a variety of terrains with the exception of tropical rainforests and the Saharan desert. They inhabit well-watered grassy savannahs and alpine grasslands, dense forested areas along waterways, agricultural lands, and in the east heading to the Mediterranean coast they are found from the semi-desert terrains to oak forests. Hunted for its beautiful striped and spotted coat, the serval is now a threatened species. Some fall prey to natives who also hunt the cat for its meat.