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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

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.

‘After it urinated in its mouth, the lion left the tortoise upside down,’ said Mr Steyn.

‘We rushed over and turned it up right after the cubs moved away.

‘Yuck!’: The cub was clearly unhappy that the tortoise retaliated by urinating in its mouth

• The encounter was spotted at the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana
• The cub discarded the tortoise once it realised it couldn’t be eaten

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2338889/The-moment-puzzled-lion-cub-tries-eat-tortoise-left-bad-taste-mouth.html#ixzz2VpQDOgG9
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