Cheetahs are slow.

[hackenslash]

I did manage to catch most things.

Chlamydia can't run away.

[Tyrannical]

Herbivores, with a little bit more intelligence you'd think would be able to wipe out there predators. A lion is no match for a few adult wildebeest, and a herd if it were so determined could go on lion killing sprees using hoof, horn, and sheer numbers.

[klr]

Baboons have been known to kill young Leopards, despite the dangers involved. But on the whole, predators just don't do pre-emptive strikes ...

[mistermack]

Here's another example, and the one at the end of the video is really the best example.
The cheetah just doesn't seem to have the right instincts to escape. It could easily run almost twice as fast as the lion

For a hundred yards or so, yes. Then it would be exhausted. The lion would still get it, perhaps with more certainty.

That might be true, if the lion was jogging, rather than running flat out. But that's not how lions generally operate.
They rely on a sudden rush, even shorter than a cheetahs, to catch other animals. Once the animal is a certain distance away, the lion just assumes he's lost his chance and stops.

The only time that they will run over a long distance, is when they are chasing another lion, or being chased, or have the chance of a fuck.

What seems to happen with Lions and Cheetahs is that the Cheetah doesn't have the instincts of a prey animal. They see the Lion, but don't seem to take enough notice of it. Obviously it's not happening all the time, or there would be no Cheetahs.
But it does happen regularly. I first saw it on a wildlife documentary on the BBC.
A female Cheetah was chased by a lion, and had a good gap. There was no way the Lion could catch it, you would think.
But then she just lay down on her side, and adopted a submissive pose.
Of course, the Lion just wiped her out.

[mistermack]

Herbivores, with a little bit more intelligence you'd think would be able to wipe out there predators. A lion is no match for a few adult wildebeest, and a herd if it were so determined could go on lion killing sprees using hoof, horn, and sheer numbers.

I've often thought that. But it doesn't happen. That's evolution for you. It can't think ahead.
The Wildebeest with the instinct to take on Lions have always been the first to die, on average. They are always out-competed by the ones who have the instinct to run.
You see it more clearly, with Wolves hunting Bison. If the Bison didn't run, there is no way that the wolves could kill one, when they are in a defensive formation. It's the Wolves that would get killed.
And yet the Wolves can nearly always get the Bison to run, which is the worst thing that they can do, as a group.

We can see it, as humans. But we are unique, way out on our own, in intelligence, and the ability to foresee what will happen in the future. Bovids are not in our league at all. They have to operate on inherited instincts, and the ancestors that survived the best, were mostly the ones who were first to panic and run.

[Audley Strange]

I have no idea where they are (I did look) but I am sure I have a picture of a lion attempting to pull the corpse of a Thompson's Gazelle up a tree.

I'd imagine the sprint thing is probably only possible when target locked. When trying to escape, the brain needs to concentrate. I am saying this because I've noticed the brain does a similar thing when playing multi-player FPS games.

[MiM]

I'm sure many of you have seen this one



A different story about buffalos and lions

[Tyrannical]

Baboons have been known to kill young Leopards, despite the dangers involved. But on the whole, predators just don't do pre-emptive strikes ...

I think some bulls (wildebeest or some such) will kill lion cubs if given the chance, though I don't know how widespread it is. Probably just an opportunity killing instead of search and destroy.

[pErvinalia]

Herbivores, with a little bit more intelligence you'd think would be able to wipe out there predators. A lion is no match for a few adult wildebeest, and a herd if it were so determined could go on lion killing sprees using hoof, horn, and sheer numbers.

Elephants.

[pErvinalia]

I'm sure many of you have seen this one



A different story about buffalos and lions

Wow that's some incredible footage! They got their money's worth on that safari!

[Sean Hayden]

This is bizarre. I've never heard of it. Is it just confusion about who's at the top of the food chain, what else is eating these big cats?

[mistermack]

This is bizarre. I've never heard of it. Is it just confusion about who's at the top of the food chain, what else is eating these big cats?

That's just the weird nature of evolution. Cheetahs are so puny, compared to most predators, that they have to give way to almost everything. They are so specialised for hunting at high speeds, that they are complete lightweights.
But they don't seem to have evolved the instincts of other vulnerable animals.

You would think that the fastest animal on earth would be quick off the mark, but it isn't.
That's probably because it starts it's hunts from a stalk, and begins at a trot, and speeds up gradually, then really accelerates when the prey realises it's being chased.
Whereas prey animals have to be able to go from a standing start to top speed quickly, when they are surprised by a sudden attack.

Evolution just does what's best for the current animals, it can't make jumps.
I've often thought, '' why don't wildebeest evolve poisonous spurs on their legs, to make life hard for predators? ''
It would certainly be effective. But there would have to be a payoff for the current wildebeest having a very slightly irritating knob on their legs, for it to start evolving it. So it will never happen.

I think all that you can conclude about the Cheetahs is that they could be a lot more aware, and have more of a flight response, and they would be more successful. But they haven't, and I suppose that's why they have always been rare.

I did read once that Cheetahs are extremely alike, genetically. There is very little genetic variation, because they almost went extinct very recently. Maybe this is why.