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Recently, in the Shidu Mountains of Fangshan, Beijing, villagers reported the discovery of "leopards" in the mountains, but there is no wild leopard population in the Shidu Mountains. On August 31, a pet search and rescue team was commissioned by villagers to go up the mountain to check the situation. After many searches, the "leopard" was finally captured.
However, this "leopard" is quite different from the leopard we know.
After consulting the experts, this is not a leopard, but an animal native to Africa called the "sǒu" animal.
Serval cat is an African species, its distribution range is mainly sub-Saharan region, there are a small number of occurrences in northwest Africa, in China belongs to the national second-level protected animals.
If so, why did it appear in the Shidu Mountains? It looks like a fierce milk, and there is the word "cat" in the name, can it be kept as a pet?
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" data-track="13" > Serval cat: a tough predator with a hunting success rate 3 times that of wolves</h1>
The serval cat in nature is a powerful predator.
Their ears are large, their hearing ability is super strong, they can accurately locate the subtle sounds of their prey, and their large long legs have strong jumping ability, jumping flat on the ground to catch birds. According to a study conducted in the Ngorongoro Nature Reserve in Tanzania, the hunting success rate of female serval cats is as high as 62%. In addition, no matter how much time the serval cat spends hunting, more than half of the time they will hunt successfully.
How successful is this hunt?
According to the study, the gray wolf in Minnesota has a hunting success rate of 20% when hunting white-tailed deer; two or three lions in the Serengeti steppe for a cooperative hunting rate of 25%; the leopard in northeastern Namibia has a hunting success rate of 38%; the hunting success rate of the Siberian tiger in the Russian Far East is also 38%, and the hunting success rate of the Siberian tiger in the Russian Far East is also 38%, and the hunting success rate of wild boar is only 54%.
They feed on small animals such as rodents, reptiles, birds, insects, etc., especially rodents, which account for 80%-97% of the diet of serval cats, and occasionally prey larger prey such as antelopes and hares.
Many people think that the serval cat is impatient and always jumps up and down to forage for food, unlike lions and tigers who eat for three days without hunger. 90% of the prey it preys on is no more than 200 grams, and it adopts the method of eating fewer and more meals.
In fact, as an ambush type predator, it is impossible to be impatient, the study found that the serval cat is less like to move, rarely leaves its own range of activity, even if it leaves, it is only a few kilometers, compared with the tiger with significant exploration behavior, casually walking is dozens or hundreds of kilometers of felines, the serval cat can be described as "home" more.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" data-track="21" > is the most cheetah-like species in the cat subfamily</h1>
People who are less familiar with felines recognize the serval cat as a leopard, because in the cat subfamily, the serval cat is the most cheetah-like species.
All existing cats can be divided into leopard subfamily and cat subfamily, we often say leopard, golden leopard refers to the leopard species in the leopard subfamily leopard genus, but also the leopard in the strict sense.
Both the serval cat and the cheetah belong to the cat subfamily, and compared with the cheetah, the serval cat is smaller, mostly 9-18 kg, and is a medium-sized cat. The typical feature of a serval cat is that the proportion of the head is surprisingly small, but the proportion of the ears is surprisingly large.
In addition to serval cats and cheetahs, there are also leopards and jaguars, which are the most easily confused, but can still be distinguished:
Marking differences: The markings on the cheetah and the serval cat are solid spots, the difference is that the cheetah has two dark lines from the inner corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth, just like two "tear marks"; the markings on the leopard and the jaguar are rosettes, the difference is that the center of the leopard stripe is hollow, and the jaguar stripe has solid black spots in the center.
Differences in posture: Cheetahs and serval cats are light, slender, have a sense of vision with large long legs, and in terms of proportion, the legs of the serval cat are the longest in the entire cat, and the ratio of ears to body is also the largest. Although the appearance of the jaguar is like a leopard, but the body shape is like a tiger, with a sense of muscle, so its other name is called jaguar; the leopard body is more symmetrical, the overall look is not strong or thin.
Paw differences: Jaguar, leopard, serval cat's paws are typical feline paws, eagle hook,can be indented into the soles of the feet; only the cheetah's more special, somewhat similar to the paws of canines, can not be indented into the soles of the feet.
Mimesis is a common phenomenon in nature, simply a phenomenon in which an animal benefits by simulating another animal, such as a weak coyote that feeds on insects, looks a lot like a ferocious striped hyena, and can scare off some predators. The shape of the serval cat is to some extent imitated that of a cheetah.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" data-track="31" > is obviously a species unique to Africa, why is it also protected by law in China? </h1>
As mentioned earlier, the serval cat is a species unique to Africa, there is no wild population in our country, and it is also protected by law in our country.
Why?
It all started in 1973. On June 21, CITES was signed in Washington, D.C., known as the Washington Convention, and entered into force on July 1, 1975. Simply put, the Convention is a convention designed to protect wildlife and thus regulate international trade in wild species, and China's accession to the Convention in December 1980 means that we will also abide by it.
The state stipulates that the species listed in Appendix I and Appendix II of the Washington Convention, where their origin is in China, shall be implemented in accordance with the level of protection provided for in the List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection, such as giant pandas, Tibetan antelopes, etc.; Serval cats are in Appendix II of the Washington Convention, so according to the regulations, although China does not produce serval cats, it is in the protection of serval cats, and it is managed according to the national second-level key protected wild animals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="04" data-track="37" > serval cat can be kept as a pet? </h1>
Whether it can be kept as a pet, the most fundamental reasons are two aspects: First, is the law allowed? Second, is the serval cat suitable for being a pet?
First of all, let's solve the first problem, the laws of different countries are different, in some other countries, serval cats can be kept as pets, but it is not simply the wild serval cats that are captured and bred. The U.S. rule is that F1 (referring to the first generation of serval cats hybridizing with domestic cats) can be kept as pets, while in some other countries, F2 or higher algebra is required to allow domestic breeding.
On November 27, 2000, the Supreme People's Court of China issued a judicial interpretation called the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destroying Wildlife Resources, which delineated the scope of "precious and endangered wild animals" provided for in the first paragraph of article 341 of the Criminal Law, including wild animals under national first- and second-level protection included in the list of wild animals under national key protection, and appendix I to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Appendix II is the list of wild animals and the above species that are domesticated and bred.
Therefore, in China, whether it is a wild serval cat or a domesticated and bred offspring, it is equivalent to the native species of serval cat, and naturally it is not allowed to be domesticated. Article 341 of the Criminal Law, "Crime of Endangering Rare and Endangered Wild Animals", mentions that illegally purchasing, transporting or selling rare and endangered wild animals under key national protection and their products is also a criminal offense.
Let's solve the second problem. As a feline predator, there is no doubt that the serval cat is fierce, but compared to other cats, the serval cat is not so fierce, otherwise some countries would not allow it to breed offspring as a pet. Whether it is a female or a male serval cat, it has its own territory, like a solitary animal like a tiger, the territory between the same sex does not overlap, but the serval cat can, their territory will not only overlap, but also deliberately avoid the same kind in daily activities to avoid fighting.
The domestication of the serval cat by humans, dating back to ancient Egyptian times, is considered the embodiment and symbol of the Egyptian goddess Basteto, and in some Egyptian art breeds, the serval cat is also depicted as a gift from Nubia.
Modern people raise serval cats, mostly hybridized with domestic cats, and the more algebra, the more similar to the domestic cat, the more docile the personality. But even domestic cats, which have long been domesticated by people, will occasionally attack humans, so we can't ask how docile the serval cat can be, and it is better to keep some regular pets as much as possible.
bibliography:
1.Serval.Thiel, C. 2019. Serval leptailurus
2.What is CITES?. CITES
3. Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases Involving the Destruction of Wildlife Resources. China Forestry Network.
4.An Archaeological and Historical Review of the Relationships between Felids and People.Andrew C. Kitchener
5.The behavior guide to African mammals : including hoofed mammals, carnivores, primates