Behavior Cheetahs have a unique, well-structured social order. Females live alone except when they are raising cubs. The female raises the cubs on her own. At 18 months, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling group, which will stay together for another 6 months. At about 2 years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males remain together for life.
Males live alone or in coalitions made up of brothers from the same litter.
Some coalitions maintain territories in order to find females with which they will mate. Fierce fights between male coalitions, resulting in serious injury or death, can occur when defending territories. Cheetahs hunt in the late morning and early evening. The prey is suffocated when a cheetah bites the underside of the throat. Chases last about 20 seconds, and rarely longer then 1 minute.