***EXCLUSIVE***

SELOUS GAME RESERVE, TANZANIA – SEPTEMBER 2009: A Lion attacks the Pangolin in the Selous Game Reserve in September 2009 in Tanzania.

Finding yourself in the middle of a pack of hungry lions is never ideal but this odd looking creature appears to have the perfect defence tactic. Passing the rare and unusual pangolin around like a football, these inquisitive lions spent hours trying to devour armoured plated creature. British wildlife guide Mark Sheridan captured the interaction during a tour in the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania. The images show how the hapless lions appeared confused by their spherical prey, as they batted it about with their paws and even tried to carry it around in their mouths. In the end the lions gave up and wandered off in search of something else and the pangolin escaped. The Selous Game Reserve is Africa’s largest protected wildlife reserve and it covers five percent of Tanzania’s total land mass.

IMAGE SUPPLIED BY MARK SHERIDAN-JOHNSON / BARCROFT MEDIA LTD

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