• Servals are very efficient hunters; on average, 59 % of their attacks result in capturing prey.

The serval is a predator and employs an active hunting strategy, primarily feeding on small rodents, birds, frogs, lizards, and large insects, occasionally consuming beetles, butterflies, flies, wasps, bedbugs, grasshoppers, dragonflies, mayflies, and lacewings. The species hunts during the day or twilight hours, using its excellent hearing to locate prey in the grass before capturing it with a long jump; this hunting method involves tracking by sound and a leaping capture. The diet of young servals consists of milk. An adult’s daily food requirement ranges from 300 grams to 0.6 kilograms. In some cultures, the animal is consumed, but it is not considered halal or kosher.