What does the ‘F’ number mean? Savannah Generations

The first generation of Savannah cats are referred to as ‘F1’ for first filial generation, and if they have a domestic mother they are exactly 50% serval. A 50% F1 female bred to a domestic male produces F2 kittens that are 25% serval, however domestic males are rarely used since we now have later generation savannah males that are fertile readily available.

A 50% F1 female bred to a savannah male produces F2 kittens that are ~ 27-30% serval. F2 Savannah females produce F3 kittens that may be ~ 14-18% serval or more.

It gets more and more difficult to calculate the % serval the more generations away one gets from the serval ancestor. This is especially true when SBT savannah studs are used at every generation; the random nature of how genes are recombined and passed on makes the % serval a very rough estimate.

The term ‘early‘ generation savannah usually refers to the generations of crosses closer to the serval ancestor which are F1-F3 offspring. ‘Later‘ generations usually refers to F4, F5 and greater.

‘High percentage‘ savannahs are those with a greater than typical % of serval genes, and this results when an F1 savannah is bred to a serval and their F1 offspring are 75% or more serval. (There are varying opinions on what % qualifies as a HP savannah; some breeders consider HP savannahs to have 75% or greater serval content, others may consider 62.5% to be HP for example).

Savannah generations that are closer to the serval (thus have more serval content) are always priced higher than later generations.