Leopards do kill cheetahs, particularly cubs and young animals, though it happens opportunistically rather than as a regular food source. Leopards are built heavier and stronger than cheetahs, and in the hierarchy of African predators, cheetahs sit near the bottom. When a leopard encounters a cheetah, especially a vulnerable one, the outcome can be fatal.
Why Leopards Overpower Cheetahs
Cheetahs are built for speed, not combat. A male cheetah weighs around 54 kg (119 lbs) while a male leopard in the same region tips the scale at 60 to 70 kg (132 to 154 lbs). That weight gap alone tells only part of the story. Cheetahs have sacrificed muscle mass to become streamlined sprinters. They catch prey by tripping it at high speed with their dewclaws rather than wrestling it to the ground. Their bodies are lean, their claws only semi-retractable, and their jaws relatively small.
Leopards are the opposite. They are stalk-and-pounce predators with heavily muscled shoulders and necks, built for grappling, climbing, and dragging heavy kills into trees. A leopard’s bite force and raw strength far exceed what a cheetah can match in a close encounter. This physical mismatch means cheetahs almost always lose direct confrontations. A cheetah’s only real defense is to detect the leopard early and run, using its superior speed to escape before contact is made.
How Often Leopards Kill Cheetahs
Leopards killing cheetahs is documented but not common in the way that, say, a lion killing a hyena is. Lions are actually the dominant killer of cheetahs in most ecosystems, responsible for the majority of cheetah mortality from predation. Leopards and spotted hyenas also kill cheetahs, but lions pose the greatest threat. Research in multi-predator systems has found that a cheetah cub’s survival drops significantly the more often it encounters lions during its lifetime.
When leopards do kill cheetahs, they sometimes eat part or all of the carcass, but the kill often seems driven more by competition than hunger. Large predators frequently kill smaller competitors to reduce competition for prey, a behavior ecologists call intraguild killing. A leopard that eliminates a cheetah in its territory has one less mouth competing for the same antelope and gazelle. Whether the leopard then feeds on the cheetah varies by situation. Some documented cases show leopards consuming the cheetah, while in others the carcass is left largely untouched.
Cheetah Cubs Are Most Vulnerable
Adult cheetahs can at least attempt to flee from a leopard, but cubs have no such option. Cheetah cub mortality is staggeringly high across African ecosystems, with estimates often cited around 70 to 90 percent in the first few months of life depending on the region. Leopards, lions, hyenas, and even eagles all prey on young cheetahs. A mother cheetah cannot physically defend her litter against a leopard. She weighs roughly 43 kg on average, lighter than even a female leopard in some populations, and lacks the weaponry for a sustained fight.
Habitat complexity plays a significant role in whether cheetah families survive. Research has found that the type of terrain cheetahs live in has a consistent influence on their survival across multiple time scales. Cheetahs in open landscapes can spot approaching predators from a distance and rely on their speed advantage. In denser bush or woodland, where leopards are especially comfortable, the ambush risk increases and cheetahs lose their primary escape tool: early detection.
Where Cheetahs Rank Among Predators
African savannas operate on a strict predator hierarchy. Lions sit at the top as the dominant apex predator, followed by spotted hyenas and leopards, with cheetahs and African wild dogs occupying the lower ranks. Cheetahs are what ecologists call mesopredators: mid-ranking carnivores that are themselves vulnerable to larger species. This position shapes almost every aspect of cheetah behavior. They hunt during daylight hours partly to avoid nocturnal competitors. They eat quickly after a kill, knowing that a lion, leopard, or hyena group could steal or destroy their meal at any moment. They actively avoid areas with high densities of larger predators.
This constant pressure from above has real consequences for cheetah populations. Habitat loss and human conflict remain the largest threats to cheetah survival globally, but predation from larger carnivores is a significant natural limiting factor, especially in protected areas where lions and leopards are also thriving. In some reserves, the concentration of apex predators in a fenced area can suppress cheetah numbers more than poaching or habitat fragmentation would.
Leopards as Opportunists, Not Specialists
Leopards have one of the broadest diets of any big cat. They eat everything from insects and rodents to young giraffes, and they are well documented scavenging and killing other predators including jackals, servals, and caracals. Cheetahs are simply another potential target in this wide menu. A leopard is unlikely to seek out a cheetah the way it would stalk an impala, but if the opportunity presents itself, particularly with a lone cub, a resting cheetah, or a weakened individual, the leopard will take it.
The relationship between leopards and cheetahs is ultimately one of dominance and avoidance. Leopards are stronger, more heavily armed, and more versatile. Cheetahs survive alongside them by being faster, hunting at different times of day, and steering clear of the dense cover where leopards are most dangerous. When those strategies fail, the encounter usually ends badly for the cheetah.