What Does A Cheetah Eat Who Chooses Food For A Cheetah In Captivity

The cheetah is known as the fastest land animal in the world!This African-Asian big cat relies on its speed, rather than its strength, to bring down its prey. Other African wildcats, such as lions and leopards, use their sheer strength to bring down larger animals while hunting; however, the cheetah usually sticks to medium-sized prey.Cubs learn hunting from their mother, who usually hunts alone otherwise. Male cheetahs can be seen hunting in groups, working together to kill larger animals, which they then share amongst themselves. Adult cheetahs are very picky about the meat that they eat and will mostly kill hooved herbivores, such as gazelles and antelope species. They also only eat fresh meat, which they kill themselves, and very rarely scavenge for food. They only scavenge if there is a lack of food. To learn more about these astounding animals, keep reading!If you enjoy reading this article and want to learn some more fun facts with Kidadl, do check out our other fun fact pages like cheetah vs leopard and cheetah hunt.What are cheetahs’ favorite foods?Cheetahs have been observed to mostly pursue gazelles, antelopes, and bucks, which are also known for their heightened speed. They also catch smaller prey such as rabbits and birds. It has been observed that they have the highest success rate of chasing and bringing down Thomson’s gazelle, which points towards it being their favorite food source. Overall, they seem to prefer medium hooved animals, such as gazelles, antelopes, bucks, dik-diks, and the calves of zebras and wildebeests.Other than Thomson’s gazelle, they also show an inclination towards impalas, nyalas, and reedbucks.How much does a cheetah eat in a day?An adult cheetah has been observed to consume around 6.2 lb (2.8 kg) of fresh meat on average every day, though this may vary slightly per individual. They can eat around 22 lb (10 kg) of meat in a single sitting. They do not eat carrion and will never scavenge for food. The meat that they eat needs to be killed by them, and sick or old cheetahs may starve due to being unable to catch any prey by themselves.Lone cheetahs will hunt every two to five days, depending on the size of the prey they’ve recently captured. Mothers with cheetah cubs will most likely make a fresh kill every day. How often a cheetah eats will usually depend on how successful it is at hunting that day.It has also been observed that cheetahs are able to survive without drinking water for up to 10 days at a time. As water can be quite difficult to come upon in the hot African savannah, cheetahs have evolved in a way that enables them to get moisture from their kill. Otherwise, they mostly drink every three to four days and do so if they come across a river or watering hole.What Do Different Cheetahs Eat?Cheetahs living in different parts of the world seem to have different preferences when it comes to diet. This is most probably due to the natural availability of prey in their surroundings.The diet of the African cheetah species alone varies greatly from habitat to habitat. Cheetahs are mostly found in the savannah, near the Sahara desert. There is an abundance of wildlife available, most of the population being herbivores.In the Kalahari, they gravitate towards springboks, a type of small antelope. They also eat oribi, red hartebeest, warthog, puku, impala, steenbok, and cape hare, most of which are hooved animals.In the Northwest, they feed on addax, rhim gazelle, and dama gazelle. Elsewhere, they hunt down reedbucks and impalas in national parks such as the Kruger National Park.Serengeti National park in Tanzania is home to cheetahs who feed mostly on Thomson’s gazelles. This antelope accounts for about 90% of their diet! They also eat hares, wildebeest, waterbuck, Grant’s gazelle, impala, hares, wildebeest, gerenuk, and guinea fowl.In Nairobi, cheetahs can mostly be observed going after Grant’s gazelle.For cheetahs in Asia, their diet is vastly different. The Asiatic cheetah species had a wide habitat range years ago, existing in Iran, Afghanistan, and India. Over the years, however, its range, as well as population, has slowly dwindled, leaving only 50 of these majestic creatures in the arid regions of Iran.In all these regions, they may also be seen chasing small animals such as rabbits and birds.Asiatic cheetahs have been observed to prefer and eat goitered gazelles, chinkaras, ibex, wild sheep, and desert hares.What Do Cheetahs Eat in the Savanna?Cheetahs are actually very picky when it comes to their diet, and have the narrowest range of prey when it comes to hunting among all big cats. As cheetahs are small and lithe, they usually do not go after larger prey as lions and tigers do. Lions and tigers rely on their strength, which they can use to bring down even wildebeests and elephant calves. On the contrary, cheetahs prefer mostly small and medium animals, which they attack with their speed.Cheetahs will pursue their prey, mostly antelopes, and then trip them with a curved dewclaw present on their forelegs. Once they successfully do this, they drive their teeth into their prey’s throat, suffocating them until they die. As cheetahs are small animals, they are usually targetted by lions and hyenas, who drive them off and steal their kill. In order to avoid this, the cheetah drags its prey to a hidden place before devouring it. Speed is of utmost importance when it comes to cheetahs, for both hunting and eating.Males can often be observed coming together to form hunting coalitions. These coalitions often remain intact for life, with the males only leaving the group to mate with female cheetahs. On the other hand, a female cheetah usually leads a pretty solitary life, unless she is traveling in a group with her cubs.They usually do not go after predators. Though other African predators such as lions and hyenas may come after cheetah cubs, cheetahs do not do the same. The mother has been observed to devour any carcasses of her cubs left behind after lion attacks.They also tend to stay away from larger animals such as elephant, wildebeest, and giraffe populations, as they are harder to bring down, even when attacked in a group. Wildebeest and elephant carcasses are too heavy to drag away and can be taken over by hyenas and other predators looking for food.Do cheetahs eat giraffes? No, giraffes are difficult to attack because of their sheer size, as well as the deadly kicks that they may give to any approaching predators. A pack of adult cheetahs can, however, bring down a lone giraffe calf.What Do Cheetahs Eat in Captivity?Though it has been observed that cheetahs usually eat the whole carcass of small antelopes, including the skin, bones, and internal organs, this is deemed too expensive to recreate in captivity.Instead, captive cheetahs are fed muscle meat and a few bones from farm-reared animal species, such as horses, donkeys, poultry, rabbits, or cattle. These big cats are also fed a special meat-based feed that has been developed for them. They can also be fed wild animals, imitating those found in their natural wild habitats, though this is done only in some enclosures.Cheetah cubs are fed cows milk in order to keep them healthy.It has been observed that eating the whole carcass of an animal improves the health of a cheetah by decreasing toxic substances in their bodies and increasing the production of beneficial fatty acids.As cheetahs usually do not have to hunt for their prey in captivity, it can cause their health to decline or for them to become overweight, as their pent-up energy is wasted. They end up not getting enough exercise or burning as many calories as they would do in their natural wild habitat, which can cause their metabolism to slow down. Cheetahs, in general, do not do very well in captivity for this reason.Can cheetahs eat plants?No, cheetahs don’t eat plants. They are carnivorous by nature, which means that they only eat meat. The one instance in which they may be seen chewing on grass is if they are experiencing digestion problems. This behavior of chewing grass when sick has been observed in almost all cats.The roughage present in the grass helps to aid digestion, as well as relieve constipation. Eating grass can also help to rid cheetahs of any parasites present in their intestinal tracts. The fiber present also helps to balance out the carnivorous diet they eat and helps with the displacement of stomach acid. It may also help to move any indigestible material, such as pieces of bone or fur stuck in their intestines.However, this is done occasionally and not on a regular basis. The digestive systems of carnivores are not equipped to process large amounts of plant matter. Plants alone are also not enough in terms of nutrition, as large cats use huge amounts of energy every day. Eating only meat is preferable for cheetahs, as it provides them with all the necessary nutrition to support their large bodies.What do cheetahs eat and drink when they’re cubs?Cheetah cubs nurse on their mother’s milk for around three to six months, but start consuming some solid food at as young as three weeks! They start learning to hunt at six weeks of age, following their mother on her expeditions. They are usually able to bring down medium-sized prey by the time they reach six months and are considered fully-fledged hunters by the time they turn 15 months of age.The mother will chase away her cubs by the time they are 16-24 months old, as she is usually pregnant with another litter by this time. At this age, baby cheetahs are able to hunt on their own, so their mother chases them away so that they can start new lives of their own. Like other adult cheetahs, the cubs drink water found in their surroundings and hunt for their own prey, as they are no longer dependent on their mothers.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘What does a cheetah eat?’ then why not take a look at ‘How fast does a cheetah run?’ or ‘Cheetah facts’.

The cheetah is known as the fastest land animal in the world!