Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Okay, as far as I know there's no actual Serval Appreciation Day. However, it's clearly obvious that there should be as this threatened animal is totally the best. I don't know about you guys, but there is A LOT of room in my heart for a lanky, wild kitty with bat ears that looks like an Alice in Wonderland character, albeit one that wants to eat you.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Leptailurus
Species: Serval
Basically: BAD-ASS
Servals are loners that communicate mainly through urinating and spitting on things. They're unique from other wildcats because of their long legs (3 feet long!) that can reach into deep holes and scoop out prey. The are extremely successful hunters due to their TOTALLY SWEET ABILITY TO JUMP TEN FEET STRAIGHT UP IN THE AIR and switch directions completely while maintaining very high speeds. Basically, they are the best.
"If you were ten feet tall, I could still claw your eyes out!" - Awesome Serval
Some people keep Servals as pets, which is obviously bogus. I say this with the full knowledge that my Cosmo, who is at least partly melantistic bengal, is also descendant of a wild cat who should have been left alone in the jungle. (Psst- Melanistic is a fancy way of saying "black" in zoology.) As much as I love him, there is obviously a part of him that would be way happier eating moles in the forest.
Melanistic Servals, while rare, do exist. And they are even more awesome than regular Servals because they're completely terrifying. Imagine strolling around the mountains of Kenya and suddenly seeing this guy peering at you from behind some brush (in the dark, since dudes are mostly nocturnal)?
"I'm inside your mind." -Awesome melanistic Serval
A short scourge of youtube showed me that most people who appreciate the Serval are just as awesome as the animal itself. I found tribute videos with music by U2, Shadow's Fall, and Ne-Yo's "Sweetest Drug." The U2 one was by far the best, though:
Happy Serval Appreciation Day, friends!
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3 comments:
arent your maternal instincts supposed to be kicking in around now, and youre supposed to be anti- these type of killing machines ??? (awesome as they may be)
Awesome!
@ Sarah: When I was a little kid I was OBSESSED with wild carnivores. I even had a set of toddler encyclopedias all about them that I drew all over. Maybe my son will grow up to be a national geographic photographer or a zoologist? Or maybe, like this mother, he'll just write tongue in cheek blog posts about servals, haha.
@ Ben: Sweet!
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