The Savannah was developed by crossing a domestic cat with a serval.
The serval is a wild African cat with long legs, large ears, and a spotted coat. Breeders crossed servals with domestic cats to create the Savannah, a hybrid breed intended to combine some serval-like appearance with domestic-cat traits.
Savannah generations are often described with filial labels such as F1, F2, and F3. An F1 typically has a serval as one parent, while later generations have more domestic-cat ancestry. Appearance and temperament can vary substantially between generations.
The Savannah is often confused with the Bengal, but the Bengal’s wild ancestor is the Asian leopard cat, not the serval. The Serengeti, despite its wild-looking appearance, was developed without using a serval and is therefore a different breed.