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In Cheetahs
Can a cheetah fend off leopards?
Generally the answer to your question is no. Cheetah lost all theirweight as they evolved to run fast. They are now extremely lightand are no match for a leopard. Indeed leopa…rds as well as lionskill many young cheetah before they are old enough to do anything.This is why cheetah have evolved to have large litters as as littleas 1 in 20 survive to have young of their own. Cheetah can be driven off their kills by many animals; indeed therehave been documented occasions when wart hogs (who are herbivores)have pushed cheetah off their kill. Part of their adaption to thisis to hunt in the middle of the day when all the other predatorsare snoozing through the heat. Finally a previous answer states that they could out run one. Thisis probably true but several things should be considered first: A cheetah has been clocked at doing as much as 110 kmh, and cankeep this up for as much as 700m though after this it will need atleast 20 minutes to recover. A leopard has been known to do 90kmhor more but can only keep this up for 60-70m However a leopard recovers faster. As such a cheetah could probablyout run a leopard initially. However cheetah occur at very low densities everywhere they livebecause they are so incapable of defending themselves and theirmeals. Kruger for instance in south Africa (about the size ofwales) has a total of 200 or so cheetah, compared to 1000 lions and1500 leopards. (MORE)
