Serval in protected areas across its range, and hunting of servals is either prohibited or regulated in several countries. The scientific name of the serval is "Leptailurus serval". It is the sole member of the genus "Leptailurus". The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber as "Felis serval". In 1858, Russian naturalist Nikolai Severtzov proposed the genus name "Leptailurus". In the 19th and 20th centuries, some taxonomists inspected serval skins and identified two species on the basis of coat pattern: "Felis serval" (serval), with large, pronounced spots, and "F. servalina" or "F. ornata" (servaline cat), marked
Serval from the back of the head onto the shoulders, and then break into rows of spots. The white underbelly has dense and fluffy basal fur, and the soft guard hairs (the layer of fur protecting the basal fur) are long. Guard hairs are up to long on the neck, back and the flanks, and are merely long on the face. The closely set ears are black on the back with a horizontal white band; the ears can rotate up to 180 degrees independently of each other. The serval has a good sense of smell, hearing and vision. The serval is