The last serval cat at Riverview Park and Zoo in Peterborough has passed away.
The zoo announced on Friday (August 28) that Ali died just shy of her 23rd birthday.
Ali arrived at Riverview Park and Zoo in 2010 as a donation from the Toronto Zoo, joining the zoo’s two other female servals, Friday and Kabala.
In 2020, Ali lost her right front leg after breaking it in a fall, but she quickly adapted to the three-legged life and remained a favourite of both zoo staff and visitors.
After Friday and Kabala passed away, Ali spent the rest of her life living with Torty, the zoo’s African spurred tortoise.
Native to sub-Saharan Africa, the serval is a medium-sized wild cat known for its long legs, slender build, large ears, and spotted and striped golden coat.
Found mainly in grasslands and wetlands, servals are skilled hunters that use their exceptional hearing to locate small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects before leaping as high at 2.7 metres in the air to pounce on their prey. Servals have the longest legs of any cat relative to their body size, earning them the nickname “giraffe cat.”
In the wild, servals are known to live between 10 and 12 years and can exceed 20 years of age in captivity.
Owned and operated by the City of Peterborough, Riverview Park and Zoo is Canada’s only free-admission zoo accredited by Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA), meeting national standards for animal care and welfare, conservation, education, and safety. Open year-round, the zoo is home to over 40 species across more than 20 animal habitats.
