SPECIAL SECTION : CAMERA TRAPPING IN AFRICA Population numbers, density and activity patterns of servals in savannah patches of Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of Congo Torsten Bohm 1,2 | Heribert Hofer 1 1 Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany 2 African Parks, Brazzaville, Congo Correspondence Torsten Bohm Email: torstenb@african-parks.org Abstract Despite its wide distribution in continental Africa, the serval (Leptailurus serval Schreber) has received relatively little scientific attention so far. We did camera- trapping in the forest–savannah mosaic of the Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Repub- lic of Congo. The park’s savannahs represent the northernmost extension of the savannahs of the Bat ek e Plateaux, a large ecoregion of open habitat in Central Africa. During 8 months of camera-trapping, we recorded 51 individuals. Almost two-thirds of individuals recorded belonged to the servaline morph, with a pattern mutation of small “freckled” spots. Using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian spatially explicit capture–recapture methods serval density was 7.7–9.8 individuals/ 100 km². ML analyses favoured a model with trap placement and gender as covari- ates. Serval males were largely nocturnal whereas females were mainly diurnal. Dif- ferences in activity patterns were likely related to the occurrence of spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta Erxleben). Spotted hyaenas were highly nocturnal and, consequently, had a higher overlap in activity patterns with male servals. Our study provided the first robust density estimates for this medium-sized carnivore in Cen- tral Africa. To achieve sufficient precision in density estimates, we recommend that future studies also include individual and trap placement covariates in analyses. R esum e Malgr e sa large distribution en Afrique continentale, le serval (Leptailurus serval Schreber) n’a jusqu’ici attir e que relativement peu l’attention des scientifiques. Nous avons fait du pi egeage photographique dans la mosa € ıque for^ et-savane du Parc National d’Odzala-Kokoua, en R epublique du Congo. Les savanes du parc repr esen- tent l’extension la plus au nord des savanes du Plateau des Bat ek e, une vaste  ecor egion d’habitat ouvert en Afrique centrale. En huit mois de pi egeage photo, nous avons enregistr e 51 individus. Pr es des deux-tiers des individus enregistr es appartenaient au morphe servalin avec une mutation du pattern en petites taches. En utilisant la m ethode du maximum de vraisemblance (ML) et la m ethode bay esi- enne spatialement explicite de capture-recapture, nous avons d eduit une densit e de servals de 7.7–9.8 individus/100 km². Les analyses ML privil egiaient un mod ele avec placement de pi eges et sexe comme covariantes. Les servals m^ ales sont surtout noc- turnes alors que les femelles sont plut^ ot diurnes. Les diff erences des sch emas d’acti- vit es  etaient probablement li ees  a la pr esence d’hy enes tachet ees (Crocuta crocuta Received: 22 July 2018 | Revised: 7 March 2018 | Accepted: 6 April 2018 DOI: 10.1111/aje.12520 Afr J Ecol. 2018;56:841–849. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/aje © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd | 841