The lions in southern Africa’s Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park are among the toughest and strongest on the continent. But they’re not as tough as this hero in a half shell.
This lion cub tried to tuck in to a tortoise, but found the shell was a tough nut to crack.
Playtime almost turned into snack time for the young lion, who clearly hadn’t heard that it’s bad manners to play with your food.
The cub was discovered tormenting the leopard tortoise by a photographer in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana.
A photographer spotted this young lion cub’s unsuccessful attempt to crack in to a tortoise at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana
Villiers Steyn had been observing the cub playing with its siblings when it got distracted by a potential meal
But the young lion soon found that the leopard tortoise was not for eating, to its evident annoyance
Villiers Steyn, 31, said: ‘The pride was very relaxed and we spent about an hour with them on this particular day.
‘When we arrived the cub was already playing with the leopard tortoise, so I started taking photos immediately, making sure I didn’t miss a thing.’
The leopard tortoise is the fourth largest species of tortoise in the world so the lion was certainly taking on a mouthful.
But even its ferocious fangs weren’t powerful enough to pierce its victim’s armour.
The youngster wanted to turn playtime into a mealtime but picked the wrong creature to mess with
.
The lion found that even a few licks couldn’t soften up the tortoises’s protective shell
The cub’s frustration at not being able to chow down on the leopard tortoise was written all over its face
Even though the big cat had a firm grip on the tortoise, its intended prey wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
‘Yuck!’: The cub was clearly unhappy that the tortoise retaliated by urinating in its mouth