At first glance, it becomes clear that the African lion has some similarities with the cheetah. Both kill prey in the same way: strangling the animal by the throat, stalking the detached prey, and using a burst of acceleration to bring the target down.
Of course, in a lion vs. cheetah assessment, the size of the lion and the speed of the cheetah are the two most relevant facts. If the cheetah can’t outrun the lion, then he simply doesn’t stand a chance against the brute strength and ferocity of the King of Beasts.
The nature of the lion cheetah conflict
In general, the cheetah and African lion shouldn’t have much to fight over, because the cheetah’s preferred prey is too fast for the larger cats of the Serengeti.
It is unfortunate for the cheetah, however, that its natural size and face closely resemble leopards, which lions ruthlessly hunt down whenever the opportunity presents itself; not to eat, but to eliminate the competition.
Furthermore, the leopards return the favor by ripping out lions’ dens and killing the cubs whenever they find them, furthering an undying hatred between the two members of the Felidae family.
Faster than the lion, but…
Many big cat enthusiasts are surprised to learn that the cheetah is not the clear winner when it comes to measuring its acceleration against the lion. The fact is, the Cheetah is built much more for pure, unadulterated speed than the power that drives bursts of acceleration.
It certainly accelerates quickly, but the lion, even the whopping 500 lbs. male: accelerates almost as quickly, launching those muscles in terrifying advance, after stalking his prey to the optimal distance ingrained in his hunting psyche.
As such, it turns out that lion vs. cheetah isn’t much of a matchup. If the cheetah is slightly injured, enough to slow it down a bit, it is in great danger of a lion approaching it explosively at a short distance. At less than perhaps fifty yards, the outcome of the chase does not bode well for the cheetah if the lion has been able to surprise it.
Afterward, the speedy cat is probably out of the woods. There is a National Geographic video showing a deadly attack on an injured male cheetah, which was mercilessly mutilated by a male African lion. The sheer unfairness of the matchup is on full display in that video, as the lion’s much more powerful physique imposes itself on a cheetah in the same way it would on a house cat.
The cheetah was too preoccupied with a female cheetah to notice the nearby presence of the top predator, which charged at it and injured it with a brutal blow from its battering claw. It’s important to note that a cheetah is not actually a big cat: tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard make up the official group.
Anyone who has been on Safari and seen the size of a lion’s front paw will understand just how brutal a punch it can pack. Indeed; just watching a lion grab and take down a 1500-pound water buffalo should tell him all he needs to know about his decidedly superhuman strength.
Conclusion
In short, then, the lion and the cheetah are not competing for the same prey, so there is little reason why lions and cheetahs should be a matchup—on paper, that is. The reality, however, is that cheetahs remind lions of leopards killing African lion cubs, thus forcing the big cat to hunt them down as ferociously as it would a hyena or leopard.
