In the African savanna, the cheetah and the spotted hyena frequently cross paths in a fierce struggle for survival and sustenance. These two iconic carnivores share overlapping territories, leading to high levels of competition. The cheetah, known for its unparalleled speed, and the hyena, recognized for its powerful jaws and social nature, represent contrasting survival strategies in this competitive environment.
Predation and Mortality
While the primary conflict revolves around food, hyenas pose a direct, lethal threat to cheetahs, particularly the young. Spotted hyenas are major predators of cheetah cubs, who are highly vulnerable to attack. In areas like the Serengeti, predation by lions and hyenas is a major factor in cub mortality, with less than 5% of cubs reaching independence in some regions.
Hyenas may actively seek out a cheetah den, and if they locate it, they will kill and often consume the cubs. The mother cheetah is generally unable to defend her offspring against the superior strength of even a single adult hyena. Adult cheetahs that are old, injured, or sick are also vulnerable to direct attack and subsequent consumption by hyenas. However, healthy adult cheetahs are rarely hunted as primary prey, as the risk of injury is usually not worth the effort for the hyena.
Kleptoparasitism: The Theft of Kills
The most frequent and ecologically damaging interaction is not direct predation, but the theft of a cheetah’s hard-won meal, a behavior known as kleptoparasitism. Cheetahs are built for speed, not strength, which makes them highly susceptible to having their kills stolen. Their slender, lightweight frame and relatively small head, necessary for high-speed pursuit, translate to a lack of physical prowess needed to defend a carcass.
After a successful hunt, a cheetah’s immediate concern is to consume its prey as quickly as possible to prevent theft. A single hyena, or more often a group or clan, can detect the kill from a distance, sometimes guided by the sight of the cheetah or the scent of the blood. Upon arrival, the hyenas use their size, powerful jaws, and intimidating presence to drive the cheetah off its meal. The cheetah, recognizing the overwhelming power disparity, will almost always abandon its catch rather than risk a debilitating injury. This forced abandonment means the cheetah loses 100% of its meal, necessitating another hunt soon after. The threat of kleptoparasitism has forced cheetahs to adapt their hunting tactics, sometimes preferring to hunt when larger predators are less active or quickly dragging the carcass to a safer, more secluded spot.
Disparity in Social Structure and Size
The outcomes of these confrontations are largely dictated by the fundamental physical and behavioral differences between the two species. The spotted hyena possesses a robust, muscular build and one of the strongest bite forces in the animal kingdom, estimated to be around 1,100 pounds per square inch (psi). This immense jaw power allows them to crush and consume bone with ease, a capability the cheetah, with a bite force of about 475 psi, completely lacks.
Furthermore, the social structures of the two species create an overwhelming numerical advantage for the hyena. Cheetahs are largely solitary, with females raising cubs alone and males sometimes forming small coalitions of two or three individuals to defend a territory. Spotted hyenas, in contrast, live in large, complex, female-led social groups called clans, which can number anywhere from six to over 100 members. When confronted by even a small subgroup of a hyena clan, the cheetah’s primary defense is flight, as it cannot physically compete with the hyenas’ combined strength and numbers. This disparity in size, strength, and social organization is the underlying reason why the cheetah is typically the subordinate competitor, consistently ceding its kills to the more dominant spotted hyena.