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.”
Watch:
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.