 The cheetah is a carnivore that prefers medium-sized prey with a body mass ranging from 23 to 56 kg (51 to 123 lb). Blesbok, duiker, Grant's gazelle, impala, reedbuck, springbok, and Thomson's gazelle are some of the common targets of the cheetah. Other prey animals include the bat-eared fox, bushbuck, kudu, hartebeest, nyala, oribi, roan antelope, steenbok, sable antelope, and waterbuck; they prey less frequently on African buffalo, gemsbok, giraffe, ostrich, warthog, wildebeest, and zebra. A study showed that a major proportion of the diet of Asiatic cheetahs consists of livestock; local species such as chinkara, desert hare, goitered gazelle, ibex, rodents, and wild sheep are also hunted. Generally, only groups of cheetahs will attempt to kill large animals such as hartebeest, although mothers with young cubs will attempt to secure a large prey all by themselves. There are no records of cheetah killing human beings. The diet of a cheetah depends on the area in which it lives. For example, on the East African plains, its preferred prey is the Thomson's gazelle, somewhat smaller than the cheetah. In contrast, in Kwa-Zulu Natal the preferred prey is the significantly larger nyala, males of which can weigh up to 130 kg (290 lb). They do, however, opt for young and adolescent targets, which make up about 50 % of the cheetah diet despite constituting only a small portion of the prey population.
