Lion and cheetah

There are two reasons to run for your life. When a predator is chasing you, you have to run in order to escape. When you are the predator yourself, you have to run in order to catch your prey

Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758), Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1775)

I want to compare the lion and the cheetah. Take a minute to observe both the skeletons. You have to enlarge the photo beneath to discern them (with difficulty, but it is possible)

Henk Caspers/Naturalis Biodiversity Center / CC BY-SA

What do you notice?

Which one is the better runner?
Lions are actually not that fast at all, where as the animals they hunt are some of the fastest. A wildebeest can achieve a top speed of around 80 km/h and maintain it effortlessly. A wart hog almost 50 km/h. The disparity between predator and prey is so big that many of the faster species don't even bother to run at full speed. So what can a lion do? It stalks its prey until it gets close. And then it starts running.

Cheetahs can run about 112 km/h, but after 270 m it is exhausted and it must recover. The average speed during a cheetah hunt is about 65 km per hour. It tries to get within 45 m of its prey, often an animal that is off by itself. It stalks, crouches and sneaks up as close as it can on its prey. If the cheetah has gotten as close as possible then it will burst into full speed. It can accelerate to top speed in seconds. Only one out of every ten tries is successful.

Which one can catch a heavy prey?

Lions eat practically any animal they can catch. However, most of their prey weighs between 50 and 300 kg. The most common animals eaten are zebras, giraffes, pigs, Cape buffaloes, antelopes, and wildebeests.

Cheetahs typically prey on mammals that weigh less than 40kg. The springbok, the impala, the Thomson’s gazelle and the Grant’s gazelle are cheetahs’ favorite food. When cheetahs hunt on their own they often eat baby zebras and baby wildebeests.

When a cheetah and a lion fight for a prey, who will win?

Due to their size and build, cheetahs are easily chased from their kill. So, after a huge, energy-depleting burst of speed, their catch can be grabbed right out from under their noses by a lion, a leopard, or an hyena, or a a group of wild dogs.

What could the cheetah do to prevent this?