Editing Cheetah (section)

===Social organisation===
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical
 |image1=Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) female 2 cubs.jpg |caption1=Female with her cubs in [[Phinda Private Game Reserve]] |alt1=A female cheetah sitting with her cubs
 |image2=Male Cheetahs, Maasai Mara (43941746162).jpg |caption2=A group of males in [[Maasai Mara]] |alt2=A group of male cheetahs
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Cheetahs have a flexible and complex [[Sociality|social structure]] and tend to be more gregarious than several other cats (except the lion). Individuals typically avoid one another but are generally amicable; males may fight over [[Territory (animal)|territories]] or access to females in [[oestrus]], and on rare occasions such fights can result in severe injury and death. Females are not social and have minimal interaction with other individuals, barring the interaction with males when they enter their territories or during the mating season. Some females, generally mother and offspring or siblings, may rest beside one another during the day. Females tend to lead a solitary life or live with offspring in undefended [[home range]]s; young females often stay close to their mothers for life but young males leave their mother's range to live elsewhere.<ref name=wcw/><ref name=nowak/><ref name=hunterwcw/>

Some males are territorial, and group together for life, forming coalitions that collectively defend a territory which ensures maximum access to females—this is unlike the behaviour of the male lion who mates with a particular group (pride) of females. In most cases, a coalition will consist of brothers born in the same litter who stayed together after weaning, but biologically unrelated males are often allowed into the group; in the Serengeti, 30% of members in coalitions are unrelated males.<ref name=hunterwcw/> If a cub is the only male in a litter, he will typically join an existing group, or form a small group of solitary males with two or three other lone males who may or may not be territorial. In the [[Kalahari Desert]] around 40% of the males live in solitude.<ref name=nowak/><ref name = hunterwcw/>

Males in a coalition are affectionate toward each other, [[social grooming|grooming mutually]] and calling out if any member is lost; unrelated males may face some aversion in their initial days in the group. All males in the coalition typically have equal access to kills when the group hunts together, and possibly also to females who may enter their territory.<ref name=marker9>{{cite book |editor1=Marker, L. |editor2=Boast, L. K. |editor3=Schmidt-Kuentzel, A. |title=Cheetahs: Biology and Conservation |date=2018 |publisher=Academic Press |location=London |isbn=978-0-12-804088-1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3rXDgAAQBAJ&pg=121 |chapter=A brief history of cheetah conservation |last1=Wachter |first1=B. |last2=Broekhuis |first2=F. |last3=Melzheimer |first3=J. |last4=Horgan |first4=J. |last5=Chelysheva |first5=E. V. |last6=Marker |first6=L. |last7=Mills |first7=G. |last8=Caro |first8=T. |name-list-style=amp |pages=121–136 |access-date=24 April 2020 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803022046/https://books.google.com/books?id=H3rXDgAAQBAJ&pg=121 |url-status=live}}</ref> A coalition generally has a greater chance of encountering and acquiring females for mating; however, its large membership demands greater resources than do solitary males.<ref name=nowak/><ref name=hunterwcw/> A 1987 study showed that solitary and grouped males have a nearly equal chance of coming across females, but the males in coalitions are notably healthier and have better chances of survival than their solitary counterparts.<ref name=caro1987>{{cite journal |last1=Caro |first1=T. M. |last2=Collins |first2=D. A. |title=Male cheetah social organization and territoriality |journal=[[Ethology (journal)|Ethology]] |year=1987 |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=52–64 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1987.tb00921.x |bibcode=1987Ethol..74...52C |name-list-style=amp}}</ref>

Male cheetahs seem to be more tolerant to cubs that are not their offspring than other felids, and supposed evidence of infanticide is considered circumstantial.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hunter |first=L. T. B. |last2=and Skinner |first2=J. D. |date=2003 |title=Do male cheetahs ''Acinonyx jubatus'' commit infanticide? |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=79–82 |doi=10.1080/00359190309519937 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233274087_Do_male_cheetahs_Acinonyx_jubatus_commit_infanticide}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Hausfater |editor-first=G. |editor-last2=Hrdy |editor-first2=S. B. |title=Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-51261-9 |last=Packer |first=C. |last2=Pusey |first2=A. E. |pages=68–74 |chapter=Infanticide in carnivores |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cR4uDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PT63#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>