But this lion certainly bit off more than it could chew when it pounced on a pangolin.

British wildlife guide Mark Sheridan-Johnson captured on film this inquisitive big cat which spent a long time trying to devour the odd looking creature in the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania.

The rare, armour plated pangolin had the perfect defence tactic:roll up into a ball and stay there - whatever happens.

Maybe if I use my claws I can get the shell off...wow this thing is tough...nope, maybe it's time to try a different tactic

The images show how the hapless lion appeared confused by its spherical prey, as it batted the creature about with its paws and even tried to carry it around in its mouth.

Mr Sheridan-Johnson, 31, from Newcastle, was showing a group of tourists around the game reserve when he spotted the little pangolin battling for its life.

'The pangolin is an extremely difficult animal to see and is considered by many guides in Africa to be the holy grail of sightings,' he said.

'You can spend your whole life driving round the bush and never see one.

'So when we came across one being attacked by a lion, we could not believe our eyes.

'The pangolin was obviously having a really bad day.'

Oh I give up! That's never happened to me before...I'm off to find something soft to eat

Pangolins are nocturnal animals and according to Mark, this one was peacefully sheltering in bushes before being smelt out by the two-year-old lion.

'We were all on the side of the pangolin, hoping he would make it out alive,' he said.

'The lion really didn't know what to do with it. She was getting more and more frustrated by the situation.The scales are so sharp that carrying the pangolin around can't have been very pleasant.'

The pangolin's shell is made of an organic bony structure called keratin and makes up to around twenty percent of the animal's body weight.