IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Stratford, K.; Weise, F.; Melzheimer, J.; de Woronin-Britz, N. | |
| Observations of servals in the highlands of central Namibia | |
| 2016 Cat News (64): 14-17 | |
The serval _Leptailurus serval_ is one of the more cryptic cat species to occur in sub-Saharan savannahs. While its conservation status is Least Concern in the IUCN Red List, records are sparse, especially in semi-arid anthropogenic landscapes. We report a series of 38 observations, both current (2006-2014) and historic (1911-1977), that show that servals have been present in the central highlands of Namibia for an extended period, and it is likely that a resident population persists here. We use maximum entropy modelling to define a new range extension for the serval in Namibia. However, our data indicate that the population exists at an extremely low density, making the serval in Namibia very vulnerable to changes in habitat. |
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