“Seldom seen, it is one of the Kruger's most elusive cats.”
The serval (Leptailurus serval) is one of the most beautiful members of the cat family Felidae. It derives its name from lobo-cerval, the Portuguese name for a European lynx, but its generic name comes from the Greek leptos, meaning ‘fine or delicate’, and ailouros meaning ‘cat’.
It occurs widely in sub-Saharan Africa, and there is also a relict population in north Africa in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. They were extirpated in Tunisia but have been reintroduced into the El Feidja National Park. They select the wetter savanna and grassland habitats, but are absent from the rain forests, and the extreme drier areas.
Three subspecies are recognised but only one (L. s. serval) occurs in southern Africa where it was initially more widely distributed than today.
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