Serval

Serval
サーバル
Character Data
AKA		Serval Cat
Romaji		Sābaru
Debut		Kemono Friends (2015 Game)
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Leptailurus serval
Distribution		Central & South Africa
Diet		Carnivore
Avg. Lifespan		12-20 Years
Read More		Serval
Conservation
Serval's Merchandise

Serval

Anime

Season 2

Manga

Festival (Costume)

Pavilion (Gen 2)

KF3 (V2 • V3)

Kingdom

Nexon Game

Stage Play

Pachislot

Gallery

Serval is a type of feline Friend that has appeared in most Kemono Friends media to date, and is the mascot of the franchise.

Serval (EX4) aka Stelval is released as one of the two Friends revealed for the Nonhoi Park Collaboration with Kemono Friends 3 on August 11, 2023.

Appearance

Serval

Serval's trademark features are two long, black-tipped ears at the crown of her head, an M-shaped marking found beneath aforementioned ears, and a small bow-tie with a spotted pattern on orange that fades into white; this pattern comprises the majority of her attire. The centerpiece of her outfit consists of a white blouse, devoid of pattern, and an orange skirt with black dots on it, 4 rivets on each side of the skirt connected with ropes. She has long orange socks with black dots fading to white with no dots and white shoes with brown bows on them, white long gloves with dotted orange top pieces.

Serval EX1

Serval EX design first debuted in Guidebook 3 and was unofficially referred to as Extra Serval before being revealed to be an EX proper at Kemono Friends World in 2019. It has overall darker coloration in the spots and stripes, which cover more of the orange areas of her clothing; they now extend to the edges of her skirt and further down the stockings. The bowties on her shoes are larger and darker, and the stocking pattern itself is less uniform. Her upper half is also noticeably different in several ways. The stray ends of her bowtie are far longer, with stripes instead of spots; her hair is shorter, reaching about earlobe-level, but with much longer side-bangs that frame her face; the M-shape on her forehead is replaced with an arch-shape; and perhaps most notably, her ears bow out to the sides instead of sticking straight up, revealing a black-and-white pattern on the back side.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role	First Appearance
2015	Nexon Game	↪ Major character
2015	Kemono Friends: Welcome to Japari Park!	↪ Major character	Chapter 1
2017	Kemono Friends (2017 Anime)	↪ Major character	Episode 1
2017	Kemono Friends: Comic À La Carte	Major character	Chapter 1
2017	Japari Café	Song
2017	Stage Play "Kemono Friends"	↪ Major character
2017	Kemono Friends Collaborative Shorts	Major character	S1EX1Racecourse
2017	Kemono Friends Alarm	Alarm
2018	Kemono Friends Pavilion	↪ Observable character (Normal + Gen 2)
2018	Kemono Friends Puzzle Puzzle Gokko	Major character
2018	Kemono Friends Festival	↪ Major character
2018	Welcome to Japari Park (2018 ONA)	Major character	Episode 1
2018	Kemono Friends Picross	Appears on multiple puzzles
2018	Safari Drive	Song
2018	Stage Play "Kemono Friends 2" ~Kemonos of the Snowy Night~	↪ Minor character
2019	Kemono Friends 2	↪ Major character	Episode 1
2019	Kemono Friends 2 (Manga)	↪ Major character	Chapter 1
2019	Chokotto Anime Kemono Friends 3	Major character	Episode 9
2019	FRIENDS BEAT!	Song
2019	Kemono Friends 3	↪ Major character (Normal), minor character (EX4), playable character (Normal + EX4), cameo character (Gen 1)
2019	Kemono Friends 3: Planet Tours	↪ Playable character
2022	Pachislot Kemono Friends	↪ Major character
2022	Kemono Friends Kingdom	↪ Minor character in story, playable character

Kemono Friends Alarm

Serval appearns in the Kemono Friends Alarm app, which functions as an alarm clock, with customizable alarm messages being read off by Serval.The player can interact with Serval, who takes up most of the screen. Users can feed her Japari Buns, which increase her Satisfaction (experience points), which accumulate over time to increase her Friendship Level.

Kemono Friends Puzzle Puzzle Gokko

Serval appears in Puzzle Puzzle Gokko in a lot of the game's assets in the form of her anime model.

Kemono Friends Picross

Serval appears in 2 different puzzles of Kemono Friends Picross where the player can obtain a picture of the friend by solving a puzzle.

Tobu Japari Park

Serval appeared in Tobu Japari Park, an interactive promotional collaboration between Kemono Friends and Tobu Zoo.

Bikkuriman

Serval appears on a sticker of Bikkuriman, a line of wafer treats produced by Lotte, notable for the highly collectible stickers that come bundled with each wafer.

In Real Life

A serval seen in the northern Serengeti in Tanzania.

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a small cat species native to sub-Saharan Africa. There are three recognized subspecies across its range: L. s. constantina in western and central Africa, L. s. lipostictus in eastern Africa, and L. s. serval in southern Africa. These cats occur as far west as Senegal, as far east as Ethiopia, and as far south as South Africa, inhabiting a wide array of habitats; servals have been observed living in grass savannas, riverine forests, open woodlands, montane forests, at the edges of bamboo forests, in mangrove areas, and subalpine moorlands, but they are not typically found in rainforests or the Sahara desert. These cats require habitats with ample cover for hiding, as well as a reliable water source.

They possess lithe bodies, long legs, and small heads adorned with large, rounded ears. The body of a mature individual averages 32 to 40 inches long and 20 inches tall, with tails 8 to 12 inches long. An average weight for a wild serval is around 33 pounds. They are easily recognized by their white and yellow coats dappled with black spots; the coats of newborn servals are on the grayer side.

The size of a serval compared to that of a human.

Servals specialize in hunting small animals such as rodents and birds found in the savanna. The large size and shape of a serval's ears allows them to detect faint sounds made by prey, including that which is concealed below the ground, and discern their location. The majority of a serval's diet consists of grass rats, mole rats, and other rodents, but servals are also known to eat insects, snakes, frogs, fish, small and medium sized birds, and vulnerable juvenile antelopes. Servals in Zamibia were found to consume a significant amount of ticks in one study.

Serval activity varies from individual to individual, with some exhibiting nocturnal behavior, and others more crepuscular. Servals are solitary and territorial. Individuals, male or female, may have home ranges that cross over, but they will usually avoid each other. Both male and female servals mark their territory by spraying urine and rubbing their faces against the grass. As is the case for many solitary cats, servals only tend to meet with one another to breed, after which point the male leaves child care to the female. Gestation lasts 68 to 74 days, and litters yield an average of two to four kittens.

The IUCN classified the serval as Least Concern in their 2014 Red List assessment of the species with a stable population trend. Their justification describes the serval as "relatively abundant and widespread." One of the biggest threats to the serval is habitat loss. Wetlands are an important part of a serval's home range because of the abundance of rodents to prey upon. The grasslands servals often roam are also under threat from over-grazing livestock.

Servals are sometimes illegally hunted by humans. Some hunters kill servals to protect their livestock and others have killed them for practical use and trade. Some tribes use serval skins in their traditional attire and serval body parts such as bones are used in traditional medicine.

Servals are also seen in the pet trade, often being classified as exotic pets; as such, their ownership is widely regulated. Despite being visually and genetically similar to their domesticated cousins, exemplified by the emergence of the Savanna cat—a domestic cat breed produced by hybridizing a domestic cat with a serval—servals are not themselves domesticated and have a wild temperament that makes them unfit as house pets.

Trivia

• Though the species is associated with regions of sub-Saharan Africa, there have been some recorded sightings of servals as far north as Morocco.
• The serval was first described and given its scientific name by the German naturalist J.C.D. von Schreber in 1776.