WATCH: Tiny Turtle Courageously Chases Large Lions Away From Its Watering Hole
Has the lion king met his match?
Recent footage captured by safari guide Reggi Barreto at South Africa's Greater Kruger National Park shows a male lion drinking at a watering hole when an unexpected contender for power confronts him.
A small turtle swims right up to the big cat's face in Barreto's clip as the mammal laps up water. At first, the lion ignores the lurking reptile, but soon the turtle makes themselves impossible to overlook.
In the video, the turtle eventually emerges from the water and confidently waddles up to the lion. Once close enough, the smaller animal starts poking at the lion's mouth with its face. Undaunted by the blood around the lion's lips, the turtle in Barreto's footage keeps marching at the predator.
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For their courageous, persistent, and potentially dangerous efforts, the turtle earns a lion-free watering hole. The big cat eventually concedes to the tiny turtle and leaves the reptile's swimming area.
"It was an incredibly rare sighting for me to film — watching the terrapin approach the lions that had blood on their chins from the zebra," Barreto told Last Sightings about the footage they captured.
As Barretto mentions, the brave turtle from the footage didn't confront just one lion. The safari guide also captured the terrapin swimming up close to a lioness and surviving the encounter.
