Carnivorous animals all have one thing in common: they eat meat to survive. However, the strategic ways in which they capture their meat differs vastly.
Carnivores such as cheetahs and leopards for example, have various strategies for hunting small vertebrate prey like reptiles, birds, and mammals. Yet carnivores all have jaws and teeth especially adapted to eating meat. The masseter muscle behind their molars is a strong weapon against smaller, weaker prey.
Some carnivores like to hunt independently, while others hunt in groups. For example, cats are often solitary predators. Almost all felines stalk their prey alone an end the hunt by digging their fangs into the necks of their victims.
In contrast, carnivores who hunt in groups - like wolves, lions, and spotted hyenas - use group-oriented strategies to capture their food. Larger carnivores like lions and tigers kill big prey every two days to survive.
While most predators have the natural ability to deceive or overcome their prey, they may not always
get
their prey. In times of scarcity, predators are forced to compete with other carnivores.
[source:
The Encyclopedia of Mammals
]