A serval cat with distinctive spotted markings sits indoors in a home setting. 0:33

Ask this serval cat to say momma and he tries

Servals are wild cats from Africa, spotted and big-eared, and not the kind of animal you expect to find purring in someone's arms. Zeus is purring in someone's arms, and she wants a word out of him. more

He lives indoors with a woman whose cuddles he plainly enjoys, and right now she has him gathered up in her arms with one request. Say momma. He answers first with a purr you can hear over everything else in the room.

A serval cat with distinctive spotted markings sits indoors in a home setting. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Servals are wild cats from Africa, spotted and big-eared, and not the kind of animal you expect to find purring in someone's arms.

The purr doesn't let up. It's loud enough that anything else he says has to get past it first, and she asks again anyway, the way you would with a toddler who is nearly there.

His head tips back and his mouth opens, and out comes a short sound that, if you're his mother, is mom. He doesn't say it once. He says it over and over, as long as she keeps asking.

A spotted serval cat held in a person's arms tilts his head upward with his mouth slightly open. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Zeus tips his head back for his best try at the word.

Listeners split on this. Some hear the word clear as day, and a good many hear a plain meow from a very fancy cat. Nobody argues with the part that matters, which is that he says it on cue and keeps saying it.

She works a hand into the fur on his neck, and he answers again. The scratching and the talking seem to be one deal, and he's fine with the terms.

A hand scratches the neck of a spotted serval cat with large ears indoors. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
She works on his neck, and he answers again, purring the whole time.

She glances to the side with a small smile. Whatever anyone else hears, she is taking it as a yes, and there's no arguing with a mother on this point.

A woman with blonde hair and a necklace looks to the side with a slight smile. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
His owner glances aside with a small smile, because close enough counts.

He looks like he walked out of the long grass in Africa and sounds like a house cat with something to ask for. Of all the words a cat could pick up, he has landed on the right one.

#cats