Serval this name dates back to 1771. Another name for the serval is "tierboskat", Afrikaans for tiger-bush-cat. The serval is a slender, medium-sized cat; it stands at the shoulder and weighs , but females tend to be lighter. The head-and-body length is typically between . Males tend to be sturdier than females. Prominent characteristics include the small head, large ears, spotted and striped coat, long legs and a black-tipped tail that is around long. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size, largely due to the greatly elongated metatarsal bones in the feet. The toes
Operation Serval France's intervention. On January 26, during the CELAC and European Union summit in Santiago de Chile, Colombia and Chile both expressed support for the French military intervention in Mali. Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, stated that "Colombia has suffered so much from terrorism that it can not disagree with this action." A 2013 Al Jazeera poll found that 96% of Malians in Bamako supported French intervention. Operation Serval Operation Serval () was a French military operation in Mali. The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali, who had begun a push into the