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Thank You for
visiting our site.
Savannah Cats & Savannah Kittens
are being offered for sale.
Savannah is the
name for a new breed that has been created by the breeding of a
Serval to a domestic cat.
Providing a cat that looks like a Serval, (a large cat with a
beautiful coat and disposition of a domestic cat.) They
look like a domestic but are highly more intelligent and demand
your attention. They like to interact with their owners.
Savannahs are smaller (up to 32 pounds) and more manageable than
Servals, but are the largest hybrid feline available today.
The Serval is a
medium-sized African wild cat. The length is 85 cm (34 in), plus
40 cm (16 in) of tail, and the shoulder height is about 53 cm
(21 in). Weight ranges from 9 to 18 kg (20-40 lbs) in females,
and from 12 to 25 kg (25-55 lbs) in males. Life expectancy is
about 12-20 years. It is a slender animal, with long legs and a
fairly short tail. The head is small in relation to the body,
and the tall, oval ears are set close together. The pattern of
the fur is variable. Usually, the Serval is boldly spotted black
on tawny. The "servaline" form has much smaller, freckled spots.
In addition, melanism is known to exist in this species, giving
a similar appearance to the black panther. White servals are
white with silvery grey spots and have only occurred in
captivity.
Its main habitat is the savanna, although
melanistic individuals are more usually found in mountainous
areas. The Serval needs watercourses within its territory, so it
does not live in semi-deserts or dry steppes. It is able to
climb and swim, but seldom does so. It has now dwindled in
numbers due to human population taking over its habitat and also
hunting its pelt. It is protected in most countries. The Serval
is listed in
CITES
Appendix 2, indicating that it is "not necessarily now
threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade
is closely controlled."
History
Bengal breeder Judee Frank has managed to crossbreed a
Serval and
domestic cat, producing the first Savannah (named Savannah)
on
April 7,
1986.[1]
Judee Frank’s Savannah attracted the interest of Patrick Kelley,
who had been interested in exotic looking domestic cats for many
years and purchased one of Savannah's kittens in 1989. Patrick
Kelley’s enthusiasm and vision for establishing a new domestic
breed based on the Serval / domestic Cat cross prompted him to
research what steps would be needed to be recognized and
accepted by an official feline registry. Armed with that
information, obtained from Leslie Bowners at
TICA (The International Cat Association), Patrick approached
numerous breeders of Servals and encouraged them to attempt the
development of this new breed. Initially, no breeders were
interested.[2]
But Patrick persisted and finally convinced one breeder, Joyce
Sroufe, to join him in founding the Savannah breed.[3]
In 1996, Patrick Kelley and Joyce Sroufe
wrote the original version of the Savannah breed standard, and
presented it to the TICA board. However, in that same year, TICA
had placed a moratorium on new breeds. It was not until 2000
that the standard, with input from other breeders, was accepted
by TICA in a narrow 7-to-6 vote. At that same time, the Savannah
International Member & Breeder Association (SIMBA) was formed,
and reported just over 100 registered savannahs.[4]
As of 2001, the population of Savannahs was estimated to be over
200.
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