Leopards:

Habitat/spatial: They are mostly found in woodlands, grassland savannahs and forests. Temporal: Usually rest by day and hunt by night. Behaviour: They mark their territory with urine, feces, and claw marks and communicate with conspecifics by growling, roaring, and spitting when aggravated, and purring when content.1 Feeding: They approach their prey silently by crouching to the ground, they are ambush predators, it pounces on its prey then brakes its neck after this it carries it to a feeding location. Reproductive: They are promiscuous, since they have multiple mates. Females attract males by excreting pheromones through their urine.

Cheetahs:
Habitat/spatial: Found in grasslands and deserts. They hunt by ground but occasionally they tend to climb trees. Temporal: Hunt during the day. Behaviour: Males mark their territory with urine; they defend their territory from other males which facilitate the access of other females or preys. mark territory by ranking the ground with their hind paws, claws at trees, flatten grass by rolling, or deposit feces on prominent land features2 Feeding: Knocks the prey down with his forepaws, then it proceeds to strangle its throat with his jaw. Reproductive: They are promiscuous. Males associate with females only at mating, they will mate with as many females as possible.

Hyenas:
Habitat/spatial: Common in dry, semi-desert, savannah acacia bush and mountainous forest habitats. Temporal: Tend to hunt mostly by night Behaviour: Females are dominant to the males. The females remain in their natal clan for the rest of their lives, while the males disperse upon reaching sexual maturity.
1

Animal Diversity Web (ADW), Panthera Pardus, leopard, by Ashley Hunt, available at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Panthera_pardus/#behavior 2 ADW, Acinonyx Jubatus, cheetah, by Erin R. Lehnert, available at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Acinonyx_jubatus/#behavior

Feeding: Typically hyenas split into hunting groups, 70% of the food were from direct kills, not from scavenging. Reproductive: Males perform a bowing display before mating; since the females are dominant the males will retreat immediately if the female shows any signs of aggression.

Lions:
Habitat/spatial: Lions live in very big plain lands, savannah habitats where there is large amount of pray and cover available. Temporal: Tend to hunt mostly by night or in the early mornings. Behaviour: In engaged fight, they are capable of injuring or killing other lions. Females within a pride do not compete/fight or show any kind of dominance. Feeding: Usually hunt in groups, but the killing is done by an individual lion.

Reproductive: Lions breed year-round and are usually polygynous.3 It is estimated that it copulates 3000 times for every cub that survives over a year.

Niches depend on different things such as the environment, the behaviour of an animal or also it could depend on the time in the day/night the animal hunts. The particular Niche between these big predators is the way all of them can live in the same place, but they avoid competition since the time and places where they hunt are different for example the Leopards hunt in a different time to a Cheetah (in the day), and though it hunts at the same time as the lion and the hyena (in the night), it hunts in a different area.

Bibliography: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Crocuta_crocuta/ http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Acinonyx_jubatus/ http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Panthera_leo/ http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Panthera_pardus/

ADW, Panthera leo, lion, by Erin Harrington, available at: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Panthera_leo/#reproduction