page_title: Fauna of South Africa
section_title: Carnivores
hierarchical_section_title: Fauna of South Africa / Mammals / Carnivores
caption_attribution_description: Panthera pardus pardus, Serengeti, Tanzania English: African Leopard in Serengeti, Tanzania.
context_page_description: The fauna of South Africa is diverse and largely typical of the ecosystems in Africa. South Africa is ranked sixth out of the world's 17 megadiverse countries. Many endemic species are unique to South Africa. The country is among the world leaders in conservation, but at the time wildlife is threatened by poaching and canned hunting.
context_section_description: Many carnivores, both large and small, inhabit South Africa. Most carnivoran families are well represented in South Africa, such as Canidae, Felidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae, Viverridae, Herpestidae, and Otariidae. Most famous of these is the lion, the largest carnivore on the continent and the second-largest cat in the world. The other two big cats are the African leopard and the South African cheetah. The spotted hyena is commonly found in most large game reserves, while the brown hyena inhabits the arid parts of the country, and the aardwolf is widespread. The African wild dog is an endangered species and is found mainly in the Kruger National Park and surrounding areas.
  Smaller carnivores are common across the country, and two species, the black-backed jackal and the caracal, are seen by some as pest species, often taking livestock such as sheep and goats, as lion, leopard, cheetah, African wild dog, and both species of hyena have been largely extirpated outside of protected areas. The serval is a rodent specialist and often occurs in marshy areas. Bat-eared foxes, Cape foxes and small felids such as the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) and Southern African wildcat (Felis sylvestris cafra) are widespread, although there are concerns about the genetic purity of the African wild cat, as it breeds readily with both domestic and feral domestic cats (Felis sylvestris catus), which dilutes the African wild cat's gene pool. There are many species of mongoose, such as the meerkat, yellow mongoose and water mongoose. There are two genet species, the common genet and the large spotted genet. There are relatively few mustelid species in South Africa, as it appears that most niches taken by mustelids elsewhere in the world are taken up by viverrids and herpestids in sub-Saharan Africa (only seven species are native to Africa south of the Sahara). Two species of otter are native to South Africa, both inhabiting freshwater habitats and the Cape clawless otter ranging into the sea at the coast. The honey badger is probably the best known mustelid native to the region; aside from the otters, two other species occur, the African striped weasel and the striped polecat - their black-and-white fur serves the same function as that of skunks. The only seal native to the region is the brown fur seal, which breeds in large colonies off Namibia and South Africa.
caption: An African leopard.
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