Lions can kill both hyenas and
wild dogs, being larger than both
but in fact much larger than the
last ones.
Wild Dogs are animals
that hunt in groups, in a
group requires cooperation
between group members.
This enables wild
dogs to bring down animals
five times their size.
Sometimes wild dogs also
attack and surround a
lioness who is separated from
the pride.
But, there are
studies that prove that wild
dogs in fact try to avoid both
hyenas and lions.
But when they face
hyenas, they tend to defend
their ground and confront them.
However, they in fact tend to run
away from lions.
And they do run from lions
because they are smart, they will
not put on a fight they will
hardly win.
There are just too many
witnessed examples on how
lions can kill wild dogs.
Lion pride can
pursued and killed several
members of the pack, including
the alpha male African wild
dog, affecting the whole pack a
lot.
The three carnivores have
similar diets.
They feed on a range of prey
including gazelles and
other antelopes.
Because they have such
similar tastes, the three
carnivores have to compete with
each other to eat.
African wild dogs are
smaller than lions and hyenas
and usually come off worst in
conflicts.
When the lion and the
wild dog clash, however, the
outcome is usually in the
lion's favor.
To avoid
potentially fatal clashes
with lions, wild dogs are
actively moving away from areas
where lions roam.
Where the dog and cat
territory overlap, the
canines adjust their daily
schedule to avoid going out
and at the same time as the
lion.
For the most part, wild
dogs cannot compete with the
lions' brutal strength.
As a matter of fact,
African wild dogs are the
best hunters among the three
predators, with a much higher
success rate.
However, the Lion and Hyenas
tend to steal from them a good
portion of their kills.
African wild dogs tend
to be very successful,
often with greater than 60%
of their chases ending in a
kill, sometimes up to 90%.
This is much higher
than lion with 27–30% and hyena
with 25–30% success rates.
All of that just to say that, in
average, Lion and Hyena wins
over a pack of African wild
dogs.
There is extensive
evidence on that.
But nature is
nature, and African wild
dogs can be a fierce enemy if
the conditions and numbers are
on their favor.
Hyenas and lions have a wide
geographic overlap in their
ranges.
When disputes occur,
the hyenas normally have
the upper hand because they
have their clan to fall back on.
Hyenas are more than capable of
fending off and holding their
own against lions, with a
heart twice the size of a
lion's, incredible
strength, jaw pressure
reaching 1000 psi, and
intellect comparable to
primates.
In reality, lions
do exactly what hyenas do when
it comes to scavenging.
Lions are known to follow hyena
calls and literally drive
the much smaller hyenas around
with their huge bodies.
That is why hyenas, as
pack hunters, take advantage
of their numbers.
Hyenas were known to
kill lions and carry their
bones back to their dens
during the Pleistocene
epoch.
Furthermore, several of the
lion bones show signs of having
been chewed by spotted hyenas.
Sections of lion skulls have been
cracked off, lower jaws have
a regular history of
breakage, and limb bones have
been nibbled, all of which
line up with hyenas' unique
body dismantling techniques.
When feeding on
lions, the feeding hyenas
did not do anything
unusual, the pattern of
damage on the lion bones is
identical to that found on
horse, rhinoceros, and
elephant bones, implying that
the hyenas continued to use
the same mechanism for
dismantling bodies.
Cheetahs could run at up
to 100 mile per hour, scientists
now believe that cheetahs run at
around 60 mile per hour and
rarely stray above 30-40 mile
per hour while hunting.
What makes them so
deadly is their powerful muscle
structure which allows them to
slow by up to 9 mile per hour in
a single stride.
They also possess the
ability to turn in a very small
amount of space, aided by a
highly flexible spine and claws
which don't retract and give
them a huge amount of grip.
While all of that makes them
incredibly lethal once the
rush to kill has started, where
the cheetah also excels is in
sneaking up towards its kill
before pouncing.
The animal expends a huge
amount of energy in running and
wrestling with its prey, so it
must make sure it has a
reasonable chance of a kill
before running in, otherwise it
would starve to death.
Cheetahs use their
excellent eyesight to scan
the horizon for potential
targets, before lying low in the
long grass and creeping towards
the prey.
The cat makes use of
its camouflaged fur to get as
close to the other animal as
it possibly can before it starts
to run, accelerating
faster than a sports car.
Like most cats
cheetahs are usually solitary
animals but can team up in pair
or even threes to hunt, usually
sharing the work between family
members.
Once they have
dispatched a kill they will
often drag it to a shady spot to
prevent other animals from
stealing it.
The cats have
extremely light bodies and are
no match for heavier animals.
The athletic killers rely
upon the element of surprise to
take down their prey, but are
vulnerable to attack from
bigger savannah animals,
especially hyenas who are
known to kill cheetah young.