Class: MAMMALIA

Order: CARNIVORA

Family: FELIDAE

Genus: LEPTAILURUS

Species: SERVAL

This small-cat is of a lineage of three slender cat species - itself, the Caracal, and the elusive African Golden Cat. However, modern research into the genomes of various cats puts it as the least diverged of its lineage - where it diverged from its lineage's common ancestor some 6 million years ago, the two other cats would diverge from the ancestor some 1.5 million years ago. It is a relatively large small-cat, growing up to 60 centimetres at the shoulder in height, for comparison, the puma, perhaps the largest, grows up to 90 centimetres. The genus is monotypic - it contains just one species. Of the six different sub-species formerly recognised, only one is known to certainly exist, though it may be that two more are perhaps distinct. The serval is found throughout Central to South Africa, though it is extinct in southernmost Africa, and is absent from rainforest.