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Leptailurus serval
– Least Concern
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CARNIVORA
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Family:
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FELIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Leptailurus serval
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Species Authority:
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(Schreber, 1776)
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Infra-specific Taxa Assessed:
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See Leptailurus serval ssp. constantinus
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Common Name/s:
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SERVAL (Eng, Fre, Spa)
CHAT-TIGRE (Fre)
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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LC ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the serval’s total effective population size is estimated at greater than 50,000 mature breeding individuals, but with a declining trend due to persecution and degradation of its habitat and prey base.
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History:
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| 1996 | - | Lower Risk/least concern (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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The serval occurs widely through Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of tropical rainforest. It may be extinct north of the Sahara, with no recent records from its former range in the coastal lowlands of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
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Countries:
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Native:
Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Possibly extinct regionally:
Algeria; Morocco; Tunisia
Uncertain presence and origin:
Lesotho
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Population
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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In Sub-Saharan Africa, servals are found in well-watered savannah long-grass environment and are particularly associated with reedbeds and other riparian vegetation types. This association with water sources means that their distribution is strongly localized over a wide area and within a variety of habitat types. They range up into alpine grasslands, up to 3,200 m in Ethiopia and 3,800 m in Kenya. Servals can penetrate dense forest along waterways and through grassy patches, but are absent from the rainforests of Central Africa. A few records from arid parts of south-western Africa, Ethiopia and Somalia indicate that servals will occasionally make use of sub-optimal habitats (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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System:
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Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine
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Threats
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Threats:
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Wetland conservation is the key to serval conservation. Wetlands harbour comparatively high rodent densities compared to other habitat types, and form the core areas of serval home ranges. Of secondary importance is degradation of grasslands through annual burning followed by over-grazing by domestic hoofstock, leading to reduced abundance of small mammals. Trade in serval pelts has been reported from many countries. While the scale of the harvest and its effect upon populations is difficult to judge, the pelt trade appears to be primarily domestic (especially for ceremonial or medicinal purposes) or tourist-oriented, rather than international commercial exports.
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Included on CITES Appendix II. Hunting is prohibited in Algeria, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa (Cape province only), and hunting regulations apply in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Zaïre and Zambia (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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