THE NAIROBI SERVALS – A SERVAL FAMILY! – BY GARETH JONES

When driving in the Nairobi National Park, always be prepared for those “suddenly” moments when you see something rare or special. It is good to drive with your camera ON! and READY! and next to you if possible, plus if you have binoculars have them out as well. Slow driving and being alert is obviously necessary for increasing the possibility of good sightings.

Well such a “suddenly’ moment happened about 2 weeks ago in the late afternoon near No 4 junction we were actually watching some white rhinos. When I sensed to look behind me in the opposite direction and saw a serval emerging from the long green grass. What a privilege to witness such a sighting. The serval then moved into a culvert, I slowly moved the vehicle forward and parked to allow a view down the culvert. Within a minute another serval with 2 kittens appeared. The kittens played a brief game of “catch me if you can” and then briefly stopped their game to groom each other before disappearing. One of the servals then walked down the culvert towards the road and came out next to our vehicle. The serval was very calm and walked within 2 metres of our vehicle. While we were there a number of vehicles drove past, resulting in the servals all diving for cover. As one of the servals emerged again, a noise in the long grass resulted in
an attempted brief hunt for rodents. However the approach of a number of people & noisy vehicles resulted in the entire family running away to seek refuge. Wow! what a rare and special treasured moment, to sit so close to such incredibly beautiful cats as they behaved naturally.

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a medium-sized African wild cat. DNA studies have shown that the serval is closely related to the African golden cat and the caracal. Servals have the longest legs of any cat, relative to their body size. Most of this increase in length is due to the greatly elongated metatarsal bones in the feet. The toes are also elongated, and unusually mobile, helping the animal to capture partially concealed prey. Another distinctive feature of the serval is the presence of large ears and auditory bullae in the skull, indicating a particularly acute sense of hearing.

To see a serval cat anywhere is very special, and the Nairobi National Park is a good place to find them. In Africa there are 3 main Serval sub-species. The Nairobi servals are of the East African sub-species called Leptailurus Serval Lipostictus with unique coat pattern markings. Servals are slender, medium-sized cats that stand 54–62 cm (21–24 in) at the shoulder and weigh 9–18 kg (20–40 lb). Characterised by a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow to buff coat spotted and striped with black, and a short, black-tipped tail.

Active in the day as well as at night, servals tend to be solitary with minimal social interaction. Both sexes establish highly overlapping home ranges of 10 to 32 km 2  (4–12 sq mi), and mark them with faeces and saliva. Servals are carnivores and prey on rodents (particularly marsh rats ), mice , small birds, frogs, insects and reptiles. The serval uses its incredible radar-like sense of hearing to locate the prey and have the largest ears of any cat. Just how big are those ears? If we had ears in the same proportion to our head as servals do, they would be the size of dinner plates. To kill small prey, it leaps over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) above the ground to land on the prey on its forefeet, and finally kills it with a bite on the neck or the head. It should be noted that according to research servals have the highest kill success rate for wild cats with over 50% of attempts being successful, with lions averaging as low as 20% success rate. Mating takes place at different times of the year in different parts of their range, but typically once or twice a year in an area. After a gestational period of two to three months, a litter of one to four is born. Weaning occurs at one month, and kittens begin hunting on their own at six months. The juveniles leave their mother at 12 months.

They are not common and are difficult to see due to their markings, some people could mistake them for a miniature cheetah , but they are much smaller than cheetahs. They also have a shy reserved nature, and as a result their habits are often sneaky and secretive.

So next time you are thinking about what to do with recreational time, why not come and spend it in the Nairobi National Park. Pack a picnic basket, relax and enjoy taking in the “Soul Tonic” of God’s creation. You never know what special sightings you might see!

The park is open daily from 06h00 to 19h00.

Gallery