As my country's efforts to improve the environment increase, many rare wild animals in my country appear more and more frequently, and many endangered species that once disappeared from people's sight have gradually returned to people's face as the environment improves. Among them, the emergence of some large carnivorous animals is easy to attract attention, especially star players such as jackals and leopards.
In the past two years, leopards have appeared in Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Shanxi and other regions. This time, some people said that they were found in Shidu Mountain, Beijing, but when people arrived at the scene, they were shocked. You should know that leopards are widely distributed in our country, so why do people who go there show different expressions?
It turns out that the "leopard" discovered in Shidu Mountain in Beijing this time is not a real leopard, but an animal with a very similar appearance to a leopard, called the sǒu cat. However, there is still a big difference between servals and leopards. It is indeed easy for people to judge as leopards when they find this spot in the wild, such as the situation in Shidu Mountain this time. The serval, half a meter tall and about 1 meter long, found a pet search team resting in Shidu Mountain last week. He said with a panic that he saw a leopard and wanted a professional search team to help deal with it.
Although this search team is called searching and rescuing pets, the professionals are still very experienced. After all, discovering leopards in the local area is not a trivial matter, so the search team immediately decided to go up the mountain the next day.
The next day, after arriving at the place described by the villagers, he did not spend much time finding it. So the villagers and the search team divided into three groups and quickly surrounded the "leopard". After they surrounded it, they found that this little thing did not look like a leopard. Apart from the patterns on its body, its head, torso and limbs were much different from that of the leopard.
The white horse is not a horse, and this leopard is not a leopard. So what kind of animal is this half meter high and about 1 meter long? After half an hour after being arrested, I asked the expert and found out that its name was Serval. After examination, it was found that it should have suffered from some kind of skin disease, so after discussion, decided to send the serval to a special institution for treatment.
What kind of cat is a serval?
This cat is not a local species. Its hometown is in central and eastern Africa. Its main habitat is on tropical savannas south of the Sub-Saharan Desert. Like cats, servals are animals of the genus Servals of the Carnivore family. They do not pose great threat to humans. They mainly feed on birds and rats, and like to eat locusts. They are a beneficial animal for farmers.
So how did this animal living in tropical areas run to Shidu Mountain in Beijing? The most likely reason may be that someone abandoned it after raising it or it ran out by itself. After all, there is no data on the distribution of servals in our country, and almost no one has heard of the existence of servals.
The serval looks so much like a leopard, what is its connection with a leopard? This time people were able to mistake this serval for this is a leopard because its appearance and many characteristics are very similar to that of a leopard. From the perspective of body shape, this is a small "leopard". Like many of the habits of leopards, it is good at ambushing, hunting, running and jumping, and is also very ferocious by nature.
The difference between servals and leopards and other cats is that their limbs and driving are long, their tails are short, their heads are small, their ears are upright, they are round and tall. The length of an adult serval can reach about 1 meter and their height can reach more than half a meter. The weight of a male is more important and heavier than that of a female, and the heaviest can reach 18 kilograms.
As a cat, servals also have the characteristics of night owls. They like to go out to move and forage at night. They have agile bodies and keen insight. They have night vision functions like cats, and have extremely strong jumping ability. They can easily jump 4 meters high and run very fast. The success rate of predation is as high as more than 50%. You should know that the predation success rate of large carnivorous animals such as tigers, cheetahs, and jackals is only 20% to 30%. In this way, servals are indeed the leader in the predation world.
Where did these invasive alien species come from?
You should know that servals appeared in Shidu Mountain in Beijing, my country. Theoretically, as an invasive alien species, it has no natural enemies. This will have a great impact on the local ecological environment. For example, the previous invasive species, sunfish, Brazilian turtle, bullfrog, and scavenger, will pose a great threat to the living environment of other organisms without natural enemies, and may even lead to the endangered extinction of other species.
In recent years, various pets have been illegally introduced from foreign countries, such as the sensational fire salamander not long ago. If these species are accidentally released in the wild, they will cause irreversible harm. The serval originated in Africa, so it is definitely impossible for it to cross the ocean, so there is only one reason for abandoning or escaping after "illegal breeding", but this is not certain that it is because someone illegally raises it.
Finally, over the years, there have been countless illegal overseas objects intercepted by my country at customs. You should know that these species are enough to cause a serious biological disaster, and the consequences are unimaginable. Friends who like to keep pets should try not to raise foreign species indiscriminately.