This is a bit of fun (mainly). Light-heartedness after some heavyish stuff. There is a photo on Facebook taken by the Savannah Cat Shoppe called “Serval Cat’s photo” meaning a photo of serval cats. It is also captioned “All seven”. It may have been taken with a mobile phone. It is an interesting photo.
Initially, I thought that there were two caracals in the photo as well. Then I noticed that there were three caracals.
Then I noticed that there were six servals. But there may be a seventh. I am not sure. I can’t therefore agree with the photographer who might be the owner of the Savannah Cat Shoppe. It is not clear how the photographer had decided that he/she had photographed 7 servals. Not criticism intended – just a bit fun.
The picture could be “Three caracals and seven servals (maybe)!”
Here is the picture and my scribbles.
There are one or two lingering questions. What are these wild cats doing all bunched up in a conservatory? The picture is interesting, for sure, but it is a bit odd. The cats look sheepish and anxious or am I misjudging the cats’ demeanour?
They are medium sized wild cat species. Both are quite amenable to being domesticated or being around people. The caracal has been used to hunt with people in Asia and the serval is frequently domesticated and treated as a pet in American homes. There are downsides to that arrangement (a) servals are declawed when domesticated because they are strong cats and (b) they spray everywhere, we are told. If you like cat pee inside the home, fine, otherwise don’t bother and (c) servals can escape and that causes all kinds of problems (mainly for the cat).
Associated: Living with servals and caracals.
Yes, I have a met servals close up and I’d say these cats are passive because they are anxious, unsure. They are being defensive. A confident cat is more active. A timid cat is more passive. Despite being impressive wild cats they are out of their environment.
I think the servals ‘might’ be real and the ones behind photoshopped.
They all look to me as if the light is hurting their eyes, or are they naturally squinty? I’ve never seen one in real life, nor do I want to, wild cats belong in the wild, not being interbred to sell for profit 🙁 and live in captivity.
The amazing thing is that they look a lot more sedate than my Turkish cats who are always full of beans and up to something. It’s really hard to get my cats to stay still long enough for good single shots never mind all together. LOL.
Thanks Harvey. It is odd and it is a human environment (totally) so I have to presume these wild cats are domesticated. They look it. Perhaps the owner has these cats as pets! Madness (as far as I am concerned).
The serval is spotted and the caracal only has some faint spots on it’s underside and inside the legs. There appear to be 3 cats in the photo with plain solid coats which could be caracals. Also the caracal has those wonderful long ear spikes whereas the serval does not. Both species attain about the same adult size, up to 20kg in males.
I can’t understand what they are doing all grouped together in a domestic situation.