This concise posting on The Social Organisation of Serval Cats to Serval Cats must start by saying that servals are solitary animals although occasionally they are seen together (as a mating pair) or as a family unit (mother and kittens)2. This page might and should interest people who keep servals as pets. They are living with a medium-sized wild cat species. When I took the photo below, I felt intimidated. I had signed a disclaimer with the breeder in case I was harmed 😒😊.
The best way to present some of this information is in a table: Home ranges, density and scent marking.
| Serval – location | Behavior in relation to social organistion |
| Female in Ngorongoro Crater (near the Serengeti Park) | Minimum home range = 9.5 square kilometres (home range: the area in which the cat lives and hunts). |
| One adult female in high plains of Natal | Home range of 19.8 square kilometers |
| Male in Ngorongoro Crater | Minimum home range = 11.6 square kilometres |
| One adult male in Natal | Home range of 31.5 square kilometers |
| Density of servals generally in optimum habitat | You will find one per 2.4 square kilometers. |
| Female servals | Loyal to their home range (“site fidelity”) |
| Distance servals travel daily/nightly | At least 3 – 4 kilometers per night. In Ngorongoro Crater females estimated to travel 2.5 kilometers daily. |
| Adult serval serval scent marking | Occurs very frequently. One observed to scent mark on average 46 spary marks every hour and 41 per kilometer |
| Adult female serval scent marking | Approximately half the number as males |
| Young adult and juvenile serval scent marking | 2 marks per hour |
More on scent marking
Scent marking increases markedly under certain social conditions. For example, when the female is in heat (estrus or estrous) a high rate of scent marking took place for both male and female servals in captivity. See Reproduction and Development of Serval Cats.
When a young male travelled through the territory of a “resident male” (a male who has found his own home range and settled there) the young male scent marked much more frequently raising the number of scent markings from 2 per hour to 10 per hour.
Servals also mark by scrapping the ground and leaving faeces on the ground. It is unclear if, like some wild cats, servals use areas as toilets to mark territory or whether they defecate randomly.
The Social Organisation of Serval Cats to Serval Cats — Vocalisations
Servals use similar vocalizations to domestic cats and more, including:
- Hiss
- Purr
- Growl
- Wah wah
- “Swallowed meow” – see extract from Johnathan Kigdon’s book below
- Hear a Serval yelp, hiss and while eating
See and hear cat sounds generally. Although servals are not recognised as fierce fighters, they seem to be very adept at displaying aggressive postures, which are very much in line with those of domestic cats.
During stand offs with other servals, the ears are flattened against the head, almost squeezed against the head to protect them and display the white bar/spot, which can’t be seen in the photo below (a still from a video).
Here is a page from Johnathan Kingdon’s book on East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part A: Carnivores
that describes the aggressive posturing and the special vocalisation referred to above:
The Social Organisation of Serval Cats — Notes:
1. Carnivores by Jonathan Kingdon
2. The source material for this page comes substantially from Wild Cats of the World
by Mel and Fiona Sunquist.
Below are some more pages on servals.
