The Serval is a cat slightly bigger than domestic cats. It is a formidable jumper, and uses this to its advantage. It will usually hunt some rodents by stalking them until it is close and then leaping in the air and coming down on its back. It is also one of the few cats that regularly catches birds in flight, given its ability to jump as much as 4m up (indeed, if you see them in a zoo, it is not unusual for there to be a pile of feathers somewhere in their enclosure. The are a nocturnal savannah animal, and are found in most protected areas of sub-Saharan Africa. They are generally plentiful in any savannah with a good supply of water.
With the Colorado river in the north to the Baja peninsula in the south, the sea of Cortez is relatively large and is scattered with around 240 islands. While there is some wildlife to be explored on some of the islands, the seas are also teeming with a wide variety of species. On the surface blue fin humpback and sperm whales can be seen, alongside bottlenose dolphins Guadeloupe fur seals and leaping Mobula rays. There are also a wide variety of sea birds. As well as all this that can be seen from a boat, there is also a large number of coral reefs, meaning it is hugely popular with snorkellers and divers as well.
There is often an argument that Orca (or killer whales) should not be displayed in aquariums as they show unnatural behaviours. While doing trick after trick would not be seen, and in the wild they might roam tens or hundreds of thousands of square miles in a year, many of the behaviours are indeed something that is seen in the wild.
Perhaps the most likely place to see interesting behaviours is during a hunt, and that is indeed what was recently captured.
Orca hunting smaller dolphins in the sea of Cortex off the coast of Mexico
Orcas swim most oceans around the world. Increasingly, humans are recognizing that far from being one species, there is actually many which have not interbred for in some cases millions of years. Furthermore, many populations are geographically isolated rarely meeting up with other members.
However, this demonstrates that while there are a number of effective predators in the sea from dolphins to sharks and whales, the killer whale is usually the undisputed predator. As well as taking dolphins reasonably regularly, killer whales often target other big predators including great white sharks. Indeed, while it is never easy to be sure of the reason that a wild species changes its behaviour, it is thought that the disappearance of the south african great white shark is linked to more regular sightings of the Orca in South African waters during the second half of the year when they are thought to be in residence.
