What Do Cheetahs Eat? Cheetah Prey and Hunting Success

What do cheetahs mainly eat?

The cheetah is a specialist hunter of fast, medium-sized prey. Its favorite targets weigh about 20–60 kg (44–132 lb), mostly under 40 kg (88 lb), which is roughly the size of a cheetah itself or a little larger. Which species it eats depends on where it lives:

Cheetahs also catch smaller animals, such as scrub hares, guineafowl and young ostriches, especially when larger prey is scarce. A mother cheetah with cubs or a young cheetah still learning to hunt often takes this smaller game.

Do cheetahs hunt large animals?

Mostly not. A lone cheetah weighs only 21–65 kg (46–143 lb) and has a light skull and small teeth, built for speed rather than power. It cannot wrestle down a buffalo or adult zebra the way a lion can.

Groups of male cheetahs, called coalitions, are the exception. Two to four brothers hunting together can bring down larger prey, such as adult wildebeest and topi, and some well-known coalitions in the Maasai Mara regularly hunt wildebeest. A few cheetahs have even killed young giraffes or buffalo calves, but these are rare cases.

How do cheetahs hunt?

Cheetahs hunt mainly by day, often in the cooler morning and late afternoon. This helps them avoid lions and hyenas, which are most active at night. In very hot places such as the Sahara, some cheetahs hunt after sunset.

A hunt has several stages:

1. Spotting. The cheetah scans the plains from a termite mound, fallen tree or low branch, relying on its excellent eyesight.
2. Stalking. It creeps closer, using grass and bushes for cover, usually to within about 30–200 m (100–650 ft) of its target.
3. Sprinting. It bursts into a chase, accelerating very fast. Wild cheetahs fitted with GPS collars in Botswana reached up to 93 km/h (58 mph), but averaged about 54 km/h (34 mph) during hunts. Most chases last less than a minute.
4. Tripping. As the prey zigzags, the cheetah follows each turn, then knocks it off balance with a swipe of a front paw, hooking it with the strong dewclaw.
5. The kill. The cheetah grips the prey’s throat and holds on until it suffocates.

After a fast chase, the cheetah is out of breath and needs to rest for a while before it can eat. To learn how this sprint compares with other animals, see how fast is a cheetah?

How successful are cheetah hunts?

Cheetahs are skilled hunters. Studies across Africa give overall success rates of roughly 25–40% for chases, and higher rates have been recorded against young gazelles, which are easier to catch.

Success depends on the prey, the cover, the experience of the cheetah and whether the prey has noticed it. Many hunts are called off during the stalk, when the prey spots the cheetah and alarm calls spread through the herd.

Why do cheetahs eat so fast?

A cheetah’s biggest problem is not catching food but keeping it. Lions, spotted hyenas, leopards and even large groups of vultures can drive a cheetah off its kill. Because a cheetah is built lightly for speed, it rarely risks a fight that could injure it, and an injury could stop it from hunting.

To reduce losses, cheetahs drag their kill into the shade of a bush or tree, eat quickly and keep looking up to watch for danger. Studies suggest they can lose a significant share of their kills, roughly one in ten in some Serengeti studies, and more where lions and hyenas are common. Research using collars in the Kalahari showed that cheetahs spend relatively little energy hunting, so they can cope with losing some kills. For more about cheetahs and other big cats, see cheetah vs leopard.

How do cheetah mothers teach their cubs to hunt?

Cheetah cubs depend on their mother for about 18–20 months. She brings meat back to them when they are small, and from a few months old the cubs follow her on hunts.

Later, the mother catches live prey, such as a young gazelle or hare, and releases it in front of her cubs so they can practice chasing and tripping it. Their first attempts are often clumsy, and the mother may have to finish the job. Young cheetahs may not make a successful kill on their own until they are about 15 months old, and some hunting skill keeps improving after they leave their mother.

Hunting is hard work for a single mother: she has to feed herself and a growing litter while protecting the cubs from lions and hyenas. This is one reason why so many cheetah cubs die young, and why prey loss is a real threat to the species; see are cheetahs endangered?

Do cheetahs need to drink?

Cheetahs drink when water is available, but they can go several days without drinking and get much of their moisture from their prey. This allows them to survive in dry habitats such as the Kalahari and the deserts of Iran, where water holes are far apart.