habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
In sub-Saharan Africa, Servals are mostly found in and around marshland, well-watered savannah and long-grass environments, and are particularly associated with reed-beds and other riparian vegetation types (Thiel 2015). Servals can penetrate dense forest along waterways and through grassy patches and are able to tolerate agricultural areas to some extent provided cover is available (Hunter & Bowland 2013; Ramesh & Downs 2013). However, they have quite specific habitat requirements, so may be locally restricted to smaller areas within their broad distribution range (Sunquist & Sunquist 2002). Key vegetation types are thus wetlands, grasslands (with a preference for long, rank grass), and indigenous vegetation that can provide cover and allow dispersal. These can be natural or man-made, although more research needs to be done on the ideal configuration of the latter wetlands (Ramesh et al. 2015a). So far the status and response of Servals in mosaic agricultural landscapes is uncertain, particularly their movement patterns and land use in response to habitat fragmentation. For example, they exhibit lower occupancy rates in cropland but increased occupancy with higher human abundance (Ramesh & Downs 2015b). Indeed, the species could be described as being semi-synanthropic due to the strong positive association with human activities. However, they are likely to be sensitive to fragmentation due to habitat specialisation, mainly preference for wetlands and its associated rodents. In an ongoing collaring study (Ramesh & Downs 2013), it was found that native wetland with a higher percentage of less disturbed, large-sized patches (core area) positively explained landscape use by Servals where nearly 80% of the GPS fixes concentrated only on remnant wetland habitats. Servals also avoided or used less cropland (Ramesh et al. 2015a). This is mainly due to the conversion of wetlands and their associated habitat for farming, residential development and commercial purposes that have led to many small disconnected patches of human-altered landscapes (Ramesh & Downs 2013).Servals specialise on small mammals, in particular rodents, with birds being of secondary importance (Hunter & Bowland 2013). Small mammals (especially Vlei Rats Otomys species and Striped Mice Rhabdomys pumilio), birds, reptiles, fish, and rarely invertebrates, are also preyed upon (Smithers 1978; Bowland 1990; Skinner & Chimimba 2005; Ramesh & Downs 2015a). They are predominantly nocturnal (Skinner & Chimimba 2005), but increasing evidence points to crepuscular behaviour (S. Laurence unpubl. data).
Radio-tracked individuals on the Magaliesberg plateau of the North Westâs Kgaswane Mountain Reserve had home range sizes between 2.1â2.7 km² (van Aarde & Skinner 1986). In Mount Currie Nature Reserve, reintroduced Serval had home ranges ranging from 2.9â9.4 km² (Perrin 2002). In the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg foothills, home-ranges varied from 15â30 km² (Bowland 1990). While in 2014, the average home range of collared Servals ranged from 5â60 km2 in the farmland of KwaZulu-Natal (Ramesh et al. 2015a). As expected with felids, male ranges were much bigger than females. In Secunda, Mpumalanga, where there is a relatively high population density, home ranges are estimated at 1â2 km2 (W. Matthews, unpubl. data).
Ecosystem and cultural services: As a predator of rodents and birds, Servals may play a functional role in agricultural landscapes in controlling the numbers of pest species (Thiel 2015; Ramesh & Downs 2015b). It is alleged that the Forestry Department, Mpumalanga, reintroduced Serval to control rodents that feed on the newly sprouting Pinus sp. seedlings but no documentary proof has been published for its effectiveness. However, camera trap data do provide evidence of Servals foraging in plantations (S. Laurence unpubl. data).
The Serval can be used as an umbrella species for savannah biotopes, and as an indicator for the highly endangered humid savannah biotope (Thiel 2015).
