Black Serval
Black Serval
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| ブラックサーバル | |||
| Character Data | |||
| AKA | Melanistic serval
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| Romaji | Burakku sābaru
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| Debut | Kemono Friends 3 | ||
| Animal Data | |||
| Scientific Name | Leptailurus serval
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| Distribution | Central & South Africa
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| Diet | Carnivore
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| Avg. Lifespan | 12-20 years
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| Read More | Serval
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| Conservation | 
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| Black Serval | KF3 | Gallery |
Black Serval is a type of feline Friend based on rare melanistic servals.
Appearance
Black Serval bears a striking resemblance to Serval EX1 but she has a long ponytail and her design is colored mostly black.
Series Appearances
| Media | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Kemono Friends 3 | ↪ Major character, playable character |
In Real Life
The Serval (Leptailurus serval) is a small-sized species of cat native to most of sub-Saharan Africa. They are thin cats with small heads and large, rounded ears. The body of a mature individual is 32 to 40 inches long and their tails are 8 to 12 inches long. When standing normally they are 20 inches tall and weigh around 33 pounds. Newborn Servals have a grayer tint compared to adults.
Black Servals are nearly identical to regular Servals, save for their dark fur coloring. This is caused by Melanism.
Melanism is a congenital excess of melanin in an organism, usually animals, which results in a dark pigment. It is related to the process of adaptation called "adaptive". More often than not, darker individuals become more fit to survive and reproduce in their environment as they are better camouflaged. This makes prey animals less conspicuous to predators, and predators can use it as a foraging advantage, especially during night hunting.
Typically, melanism is inheritable, meaning it can be passed to the individuals' offspring. It is a dominant allele, that which is entirely or nearly entirely expressed in the phenotype, which is then responsible for the excessive amount of melanin. Adaptive and normal melanism can be found in many animals, including squirrels, felines, canids, and even snakes.
In 2003, the dominant mode of inheritance of melanism (specifically in jaguars) was confirmed by performing phenotype-transmission analysis in a 116-individual captive pedigree. All animals that had melanism were found to carry at least one copy of a mutant MC1R sequence allele, bearing a 15-base pair inframe deletion. Ten melanistic jaguars unrelated to the study were either Homozygous (two copies of the gene) or Heterozygous (one copy of the gene) for this allele. Another gene called the Agouti gene may also cause melanism.
Since Black Servals are not considered a subspecies, merely a morph of regular Servals, they are lumped in the same IUCN group and thus Least Concern.
Trivia
- Another example of Melanism is the Black Leopards and Black Jaguars; it is not a true subspecies, merely one with a dark morph.
- Melanistic coats occur as a common polymorphism in 11 of 37 felid species
- Pseudomelanism (also called abundism), is another variant of pigmentation, which is identified by large dark spots or enlarged stripes, which cover a large part of the body of the animal. This makes it appear melanistic, though it is not the same mutation.
- Black Serval is the first and only Serval Friend variants whose design isn't based on Serval normal design.
References
- Serval Wiki Page
- Melanism Wiki Page
- Osinga, N.; Hart, P.; van VoorstVaader, P. C. (2010). "Albinistic common seals (Phoca vitulina) and melanistic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) rehabilitated in the Netherlands". Animal Biology. 60 (3): 273−281. doi:10.1163/157075610x516493. S2CID 84554567.
- Eizirik, E.; Yuhki, N.; Johnson, W. E.; Menotti-Raymond, M.; Hannah, S. S.; O'Brien, S. J. (2003). "Molecular Genetics and Evolution of Melanism in the Cat Family". Current Biology. 13 (5): 448–453. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00128-3. PMID 12620197. S2CID 19021807.