An incredibly rare black serval was caught on camera in some incredible footage. The rare melanistic serval encountered a pride of lions and was lucky to survive.
The footage was posted by Hamir Thapar, who wrote that it “remains one of the rarest encounters we’ve ever had.”
This creature is black due to melanism. Melanistic animals have an excess of a pigment called melanin that makes their skin, hair or fur very dark, or in some cases, completely black.
Here’s another melanistic serval that was caught on camera last year:
Melanistic servals are relatively quite rare compared to other wild cats. There are few records of black servals in the scientific literature.
Servals are amazing creatures. These cheetah-like cats can weigh up to 40 pounds, and with their characteristically long limbs (longer than any other cat for their body size), can reach 2 feet at the shoulder. Servals are relatively common throughout grasslands and wetlands in sub-Saharan Africa, where they put those gangly legs to good use.
Source: https://roaring.earth
