What Similarities that You Can Find Between Cheetah and Leopard?

Lifetime Safaris

10 / Feb / 2020

Despite having many differences between cheetah and leopard, there are also some similarities between cheetah and leopard. Before going to see the cat family in Tanzania safari, you should know about some matches between them.

Both are the Members of the Big Cat Family

Cheetah and Leopard belong to the big cat family or Felidae, which further divided into sub-categories named Leopardis and Panthera. The cheetah goes under the Puma category of Lynx, which is the sub-category of Leopardis. The Leopard falls under the sub-category of Panthera.

The Big cat family divided into two parts based on the shape of the tooth, which are conical-tooth cats and saber-tooth cats. Both Cheetah and leopard fall under the conical tooth cat’s variety.

Both have Yellow Fur with Black Spots

Though cheetah and leopard have black spots of different patterns, they both have insulating yellow fur. They both have a coat of the same color with yellow fur, which are the major similarities between cheetah and leopard. You can only know the difference if you look at the black spots on their coat. Leopard has irregular black spots known as rosettes, where cheetah has solid round-shaped black spots on their coats.

Both are Generally Catch the Same Prey

In the case of diet, both cheetah and leopard eat the same prey, where prey for leopard is wider. As they both are carnivores and from the cat family, their common preys are small antelopes such as Thomson’s gazelle, springbok, impala, large antelopes such as hartebeest, kudu, waterbuck, Oryx, roan. Other preys which are also common are small animals like warthogs, rabbits, etc.

As the leopard is a solitary animal and falls under the Panthera category, it’s prey is much wider than the cheetah.

Cheetahs and Leopards are Mammals

Though both cheetah and leopard have different size and structure, they are both mammals. With a gestation period of three months, cheetah gives birth to two to eight cubs whereas the leopard gives birth to two to four cubs with no particular breeding season. Because of the low survival rate, female cheetah gives birth to more than six cubs.

Both are Endothermic

One of the major similarities between cheetah and leopard is they both are endothermic. As both are the habitat of grasslands, woodlands, dry forests, deserts, nature gives them a gift to control the body temperature. Both have insulating fur, which helps to control the temperature in different habitats.

Cheetahs and leopards have Long Tails

Length of the tail of cheetah varies between 60 to 84 cm and leopard tail varies between 60 to 110 cm, which is long as two-thirds of their bodies. Leopard takes the prey up to the tree after hunting in which tail plays a major role in movement and balancing the body. In the other case, the cheetah is the fastest mammal on the earth that uses the tail to stabilize and balance the body weight when running.

Here, you can see some major similarities between cheetah and leopard. If we take, cheetah vs. Leopard, who is the better hunter comparatively, then you can see they are experts in their fields. Cheetah is the fastest animal whereas the leopard is muscular and not as fast as a cheetah. But the leopard is a solitary animal and has retractable claws, whereas the cheetah is not solitary as leopard and also has non-retractable claws. To explore and watch live, start a Your Tanzania safari with us. For More Information Visit @ https://lifetimesafaristz.com/