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Carnivores of the Serengeti

One of the most interesting characteristics of Serengeti carnivores is their ability to hunt. Cheetahs are exciting to watch because they chase their prey at speeds up to 70 miles per hour. Relatively smaller than many other predators in sub-Saharan Africa, cheetahs utilize their speed and agility to bring down prey. Cheetahs prey on Thompson's gazelles, impalas, Grant's gazelles, wildebeest, and small hares (Caro 1994). These stealthy cats are diurnal, and hunting occurs mostly during the day in the morning or mid to late afternoon. There have been a few isolated instances of cheetahs hunting at night, but they seem to lose prey to lions and hyenas after dark (Stander 1990).

How Cheetahs Hunt

Cheetahs hunt by sight and have five distinct hunting methods (Caro 1994). The most dominant hunting method is for them to stalk their prey and walk towards it until they get within sprinting distance. Once the cheetah is close enough, it will burst into a sprint. When hunting smaller prey, the cheetah will flush the smaller animals out of hiding and pursue. Cheetahs frequently use these two hunting techniques.

While females are solitary, and always hunt alone, males in coalitions will hunt in groups. Even if some individuals in a group are not hunting, they will still accompany other members of their group on hunting expeditions. Cheetah coalitions attempt to catch heavier prey, and attempt to catch wildebeests more often than singletons. However, cooperative hunting does not increase hunting success. Cheetahs do not have advanced cooperative hunting techniques like some other predators, which leads to few benefits of cooperative hunting (Caro 1994).

Interspecific competition between lions, hyenas, and cheetahs always puts the cheetah at a disadvantage. Cheetahs do not defend their kills and lose up to 13 percent of their kills to lions and hyenas (Caro 1994).