A mother cheetah will help her cubs along by leading potential prey to them and allowing them to make the kill. At about seven months of age, they can actively participate in the hunt. Like other cats, cheetah cubs learn to hunt and kill by shadowing their mother. If a lion attacks, though, the mother cheetah may mock charge and vocalize but will probably keep her distance.Ĭheetah cubs nurse for the first six weeks of life but begin to tear and eat bits of meat as soon as their milk teeth erupt. A cheetah mother will defend her cubs aggressively against small predators such as jackals and will do her best to fend off leopards and spotted hyenas. Cheetah litters tend to be larger than those of lions or leopards, but infant mortality is particularly high among cheetahs. After a gestation period of 90 to 95 days, the pregnant female gives birth to a litter of 3 to 6 cubs. The male then leaves the female and has no part in raising the cubs. Raising YoungĪ male and female cheetah meet very briefly to mate. The cats defer immediately to these large, loud, aggressive and determined adversaries. Guard dogs and donkeys, for example, deter cheetahs very effectively. In Namibia, though, this is changing as ranchers are learning to coexist with cheetahs and to adopt other ways to defend their herds.
When first born, like all kittens, they are utterly helpless and can easily be killed in their nursery den while their mother is off hunting.Ĭheetahs are frequently killed by farmers and ranchers in defense of livestock. Because they are so fast, adult cheetahs are difficult to catch. Lions, leopards, and hyenas will try to prey upon cheetah, particularly cheetah cubs. In the Serengeti, cheetahs show a seasonal birth peak that appears to correlate to that of the Thomson’s gazelle. Wherever there are high concentrations of Thomson’s gazelle, there will be high density of cheetahs. The cheetah’s main food source in the wild is Thomson’s gazelle. They tend to have regular marking sites that they visit again and again.Ĭheetahs also make their mark on any ecosystem they occupy simply by being large predators at or near the top of the food chain. Males will mark their territory at least once an hour by spraying urine or defecating. However, male cheetahs are aggressively territorial and will wage significant battle with each other over territory and females. “Making my mark”Īs a general species characteristic, cheetahs are skittish and submissive toward other predator species such as lions and hyenas that may challenge them. Female cheetahs have overlapping home ranges but do not defend territory. Male cheetahs are much more able to defend a territory when part of a group than when alone. No other mammal species has this social dynamic. More often than not, male cheetahs live in groups of two or three while females live alone, unless with cubs. When not hunting, cheetahs are sleeping, resting in the shade, or patrolling their territories. When challenged by lions or spotted hyenas, cheetahs usually back down and abandon their kill. It will rest and pant for about half an hour, then eat quickly and nervously before other predators arrive on the scene to compete for the kill. Not surprisingly, the cheetah’s most important sense is sight, which it relies on heavily while hunting.Īfter the high speed chase that lands a kill, a cheetah must recover before eating. It will only spring to the chase when its prey starts to flee. Interestingly, a cheetah will not attack an animal that stands still. Movement by the intended victim triggers the chase. Cheetahs stalk their prey patiently, getting as close as possible under cover of tall grass before launching an attack. For them, though, it is one way to avoid conflict with other, more powerful predators.
“How I live there”Ĭheetahs hunt during the day, which is unusual for cats.
Cheetahs prefer to live where they can find plentiful prey and scarce competition from other predators. Some cheetah also inhabit wooded or desert habitat. The largest concentration of cheetahs – 20% of the total wild population – lives in Namibia.Ĭheetahs tend to inhabit mixed scrub-savannah habitat where they can seek cover but also hunt in the open. They are pushed there by more aggressive predators such as lions and leopards who dominate the game reserves. Most cheetahs live in small, isolated groups on the fringes of protected game reserves. Today, that vast range has shrunk to very limited range in parts of Africa. Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and InclusionĬheetahs were once widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, across the Middle East, and in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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