: a long-legged African wildcat (Leptailurus serval) having large ears and a tawny black-spotted coat
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The sanctuary's 17 surviving animals — cougars, bobcats, servals, and tigers — remain under close observation.—Rebecca Rosman, NPR, 26 Dec. 2024 The center confirmed in a Friday Facebook post that the virus had killed five African servals, four bobcats, four cougars and two Canada lynx.—Rebecca Falconer, Axios, 25 Dec. 2024 The sanctuary lost one Bengal tiger, four cougars, one African caracal, two Canada lynx, one Geoffroy cat, one Bengal cat, one Eurasian lynx, four bobcats and five African servals.—Katherine Hignett, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2024 This included one Bengal tiger, four cougars, an African caracal, two Canada lynx, one Geoffroy's cat, a Bengal cat, one Eurasian lynx, four bobcats, and four African servals.—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 26 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for serval
Word History
Etymology
French, from Portuguese lobo cerval lynx, from Medieval Latin lupus cervalis, literally, deerlike wolf
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