19/10/2026
🐆 Did you know that cheetahs are bullied in the wild?
Despite being the fastest land animals on Earth, cheetahs are surprisingly vulnerable to other predators.
Lions, leopards and hyenas will often steal their hard-earned meals, and even vultures can drive them away from a kill.
Research from the Serengeti found that cheetahs lost up to 13% of their kills to other predators, mainly hyenas and lions.
And it gets worse for their cubs. 💔
A 1994 study in Tanzania’s Serengeti found that a staggering 95% of cheetah cubs failed to survive to independence.
Mother cheetahs do everything they can to protect their babies, hiding them in long grass and secluded places while they go hunting. But if a lion discovers them, the little cubs stand very little chance. Their mothers may attempt to defend them, but they’re simply no match for the size and strength of an adult lion.
Of course, these figures come from a particular population in the Serengeti, and survival rates vary considerably across Africa.
It’s a reminder that life in the wild isn’t always easy, even for one of the world’s most extraordinary predators.
And then there’s our Zeus. ❤️
At fifteen years old, he’s reached an age that many wild cheetahs never will. He’s slowing down, and old age is certainly catching up with him, but one thing he doesn’t have to worry about is another predator stealing his dinner.
Enjoy your dinner, Zeus. You have absolutely no idea how easy you’ve got it! 🐆❤️
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📚 Research and photograph credits
• Food theft: Research cited in Broekhuis (2016), A record of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) kleptoparasitizing a kill, reports that Serengeti cheetahs lose up to 12.9% of kills, with spotted hyenas responsible for approximately 78% and lions 15% of those thefts.
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f8d14a94-3c96-4127-bc17-7d4cfdc8677e
• Cub mortality: M. Karen Laurenson (1994), High juvenile mortality in cheetahs and its consequences for maternal care, Journal of Zoology, 234, 387–408. The study estimated that just 4.8% of cubs survived to independence, with predators responsible for 73.2% of cub deaths.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1994.tb04855.x
📷 Hyena photograph: Derek Keats, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, 2017. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five_cheetahs_were_feeding_on_a_Springbok_kill_one_morning_in_th_(34407780271).jpg
Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
