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The average African lion’s diet consists of a variety of different animals that they find along the grasslands of the Savannah. A lion’s prey is generally a larger animal ranging from about 100 pounds to 1000 pounds. They will normally feed on animals such as wildebeest, zebras, impalas, buffalo, giraffes and wild hogs. These animals provide the African lion with a significant amount of meat for the struggle they are faced with in catching and taking these animals down. Although prone towards hunting these larger animals, these lions will also go after smaller rodents like hares and birds and sometimes even reptiles.

Deciding which prey to go after is a major decision among the lions of Africa. During every hunt, lions are faced with a strong possibility of injury and even death. For this reason, lions tend to stay away from animals that pose the biggest threat. However, when food is scarce, lions will sometimes attempt to hunt down rhinos and hippos, which are known to be some of the most dangerous animals in Africa. African lions have also been found taking down elephants when they are desperate for food. In areas where villages are located, domestic livestock will sometimes provide these lions with their next meal.

African lions tend to hunt larger animals than both the cheetah and the leopard basically because the lion is so much bigger than these two other cats. Most male lions will grow to be larger than any of the female lions. Male lions can grow up to ten feet long and weigh up to 530 pounds, while the female lion, at most, will grow to be nine feet long and weigh only 300 pounds. A lion can be up to four feet tall at their shoulders. The body of a lion is perfectly designed for taking down and killing their prey. Their amazingly powerful jaws and huge teeth make it nearly impossible for their prey to escape once a lion has clamped onto their neck. They are also made up of almost solid muscle, with incredibly strong forelegs giving them the ability to overpower almost any animal they decide to attack.

Running is not one of the lion’s strengths when it comes down to chasing after their prey along the plains of the Savannah. They only have the energy to run for short distances, which puts a lion at a disadvantage when chasing down its prey. This is one of the reasons why African lions form themselves into a pride. A pride is made up of up to 40 related, female lions, as well as one or two male lions. Most of the hunting is done by the female lions of a pride as they stalk their prey from all sides and wait until they are within 100 feet before they charge after their prey. They generally pounce on the animal’s back, tearing at its hide with their sharp claws until they are able to bring their prey to the ground. At this point is when one of the lions would bite into the windpipes of the animal, finishing it off. Lions also have been seen stealing kills from both cheetahs and leopards, as well as many other predators. Then again, they will sometimes lose their kills to packs of hyenas.

There are all sorts of similarities and differences between the cheetah and the lion when it comes to selecting their prey. Cheetahs are significantly smaller cats forcing them to go after smaller prey than the African lion would normally go after. Their size is only one of the reasons why they tend to prey on smaller animals. Unlike the lions of Africa who will hunt in a pride, cheetahs will usually hunt on their own or with only one or two other cheetahs by their side. Facing prey one on one is much more difficult and dangerous than facing prey with an entire pride behind you. For these reasons, one would never find cheetahs attempting to take down animals such as rhinos or hippos, whom could very well be on the lion’s radar. On the other hand, cheetahs do hunt many of the same animals as lions. Similar to the lions of Africa, cheetahs will go after smaller antelope like gazelles and impalas. Their prey also generally includes wart hogs, hares and birds. The cheetahs of Africa are unbelievably smart creatures. They have been seen targeting prey that is injured, sick, old and very young. Researchers believe that cheetahs do this in order to allow for the stronger prey to survive and pass on their genes, providing for a healthier population of future prey.

After taking down prey, they must make sure to eat as quickly as possible for, just like the lion, they have to beware of other predators stealing their kills. The only difference is that cheetahs have their kills stolen much more often than African lions do. Cheetahs are generally very timid animals, which is not surprising seeing how they are one of the smallest of the predators who roam the savannah grasslands and are usually outnumbered when faced with scavengers trying to steal their kills.

The cheetah has a distinct style of hunting compared to the other African cats that roam the Savannah. While both the lion and the leopard are predominately nocturnal hunters, the cheetah prefers to hunt during the day and the late afternoon. Cheetahs in Africa seem to possess far more determination when it comes to hunting than do these other cats. The cheetah’s chase during a hunt can last up to 3.4 miles, where as the lion and the leopard will give up on their prey after only a few hundred feet. This is one of the reasons why the cheetah has successful hunts about half of the time, while lions are only successful about one-third of the time. In order for a cheetah to have success, a cheetah must first stalk its prey in order to get close enough to have a chance at catching it. Cheetahs will sometimes manage to creep within 50 feet of its prey before it races after the animal. A cheetah will generally chase after its prey at an average speed of about 45 mph, although, they can speeds up to 70 mph. Just as the lion’s massive body is made for overpowering and taking down their prey, the cheetah’s body is built for speed and agility in order to run down their prey. The cheetah’s adaptations have allowed it to be the fastest land animal on our earth, as just about every part of its body helps it to run faster.

Running down an animal is only half the battle for the big cats that inhabit the Savannah grasslands of Africa. Once a cheetah manages to catch its prey, its next task is to finish it off. When it comes to larger animals, Cheetahs usually do this by suffocating its victim by means of biting down on their windpipe until they stop breathing. When necessary, these cats have been seen clamping down on their prey’s neck for as long as five minutes. If a smaller animal, like a hare, is on the dinner menu, a simple bite through the skull is all that is needed in order to finish off its prey.

The prey that the African leopard generally hunts is very similar to the prey of both the cheetah and the lion. Like the cheetah, the leopard will hunt smaller mammals than the lion. They tend to go after smaller antelope and warthogs. They are also able to live off of much smaller prey as well. Similar to the lion, leopards will hunt down birds, reptiles, hares and many other small rodents. The prey of the leopard also differs from its fellow cats. Oddly enough, it will go after animals such as monkeys, baboons and even fish. Leopards that live closer to human settlements will also find dogs, cats and domestic livestock on their dinner menu.

While cheetahs will sometimes hunt alongside one another and lions in a group of up to 40 other lions, leopards are almost always found hunting on their own. They primarily do their hunting at night and tend to search for vulnerable prey, such as both young and injured animals. This is not a specific characteristic of the leopard as most African carnivores will do this as well. The leopard is known as being the most skilled tree climber, not only out of these three cats but among all the carnivores that roam the Savannah grasslands of Africa. Their climbing capabilities are extremely important for their survival in that they use both trees and rocks as a vantage point for them to scope out their prey. Both lions and hyenas will quite often steal the African leopard’s kills so they will sometimes stash their larger kills in trees to feed on them in safety.

Almost all of the lions on this earth today can be found roaming the savannah grasslands of eastern and southern Africa. This was not always the case. A large number of lions once populated Asia, ranging from the Mediterranean to the north-west Indian region. These lands throughout Asia that were able to provide for these lion’s survival have rapidly shrunk as current research shows that these animals can only be found in the Gir Forest of Gujarat, India. It is hard to believe, but there are only about 320 Asiatic lions still surviving in the wild. Lions also used to inhabit Northern Africa and the Middle East but they have long been extinct from these two areas. It seems as though the savannah grasslands of Africa are the only parts of this world that can successfully sustain the survival of a large population of this animal. Although there are still thousands of lions that live in these parts, this number has been continuously declining over the years.

There are numerous reasons why the thousands of lions who once populated areas such as Northern Africa, the Middle East and India were not able to survive in these habitats. Humans have been the lion’s biggest problem for hundreds of years. The habitat loss that we have brought on these animals and the hunting and poaching that has taken place over the years has played a massive role in forcing these lions to being critically endangered, if not already extinct. Another problem causing these lions to diminish was the geographical isolation between them. Different prides began to rarely make contact with one another leading to inbreeding. Inevitably, this caused a lack of genetic diversity among the lions of these areas, which left little hope for the survival of these animals. While difficulties such as these plagued lion populated areas outside of Africa, wildlife officials from Southern Africa and its surrounding areas began to setup and maintain parks and game reserves in order to protect Africa’s lions.

The cheetah population has followed many of the same patterns as the lion population. Africa is not the only place where cheetahs have lived. Cheetahs once roamed Asia, in places such as the Middle East and India. Just like the Asiatic and North African lions, the cheetah populations outside of Africa have become endangered, if not extinct. A large number of cheetahs once inhabited India but are now extinct and there are only a handful of cheetahs currently residing in Iran.

The enormous decline of the cheetah population outside of Africa has been caused by problems similar to those that diminished the broad lion population. Not only the hunting of cheetahs, but the killing of the cheetah’s prey by man made it nearly impossible for these animals to survive in these habitats. They also had all sorts of habitat loss from human projects such as mining and construction. Man is not fully responsible for the near extinction of cheetahs outside of Africa. The natural predators of cheetahs make it hard for their cubs to survive long enough to become adults seeing how they are prime targets for animals such as the lion and hyena. Similar to the Asiatic lions, cheetahs whom lived in places such as India and the Middle East were also crippled by inbreeding and a lack of genetic diversity.

There has been a significant decrease in the leopard population outside of Africa over the years, although not as radical as the decrease in Asiatic lions and cheetahs. Leopards used to be very common throughout the southern parts of both Asia and Africa, ranging from Korea to South Africa. To this day, the leopard has a larger population than any of the other wild cats. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, although there are still a good number of leopards living in Southern Asia, such as India, China, Malaysia and Pakistan. The sporadic leopard population within Asia has been consistently declining, while on the other hand, researchers note that the sub-Saharan leopard is, “…still numerous and even thriving in marginal habitats.” There are only two reasons that are almost completely responsible for the declining trend of the leopard population outside of Africa, the hunting of these animals and the loss of habitat suitable for their survival.