A trio of young lions in western India caught a turtle recently but were left bemused by their unexpectedly tough prey.

The amusing moment was captured by Dr Mohan Ram in the Gir National Park in Gujarat in April 2021.

According to Ram, as soon as the lions gave up trying to prise apart the Indian flapshell turtle, the reptile stuck its head and legs out and crawled back to the river.

Asiatic lions once inhabited much of the Middle East and northern India but they now exist only in the Gir National Park and surrounding areas.

They are listed as "endangered" on the IUCN Red List.

In this interesting wildlife video , Three Lions can be seen taking on a lone turtle and trying to hunt , but this clever turtle didn’t gave up and saved its life and walks towards the river proudly at the end . The undated video which is filmed by Dr Mohan Ram who is is an Indian Forest Service Officer , and is Deputy Conservator of Forests at the Wildlife Division Sasan-Gir. According to Dr Mohan it was a regular summer morning and I was on a usual round through the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. When I reached near the Kamleshwar Dam area, When I reached the bank of Kamleshwar Dam, I first noticed an Oriental Honey-buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus). While I was there watching the beehive I was informed by the tracker about the greater surprise around there
I went there a found three subadult lions at Kamleshwar Dam , One of the lions there ran towards the water and caught an Indian Flapshell Turtle (Lissemys punctata), Its name, “flapshell”, stands for the flaps located on its shell. In the video it can also been seen as described by Dr Mohan than when the lion captured the turtle , clever turtle immediately retracted its head and legs inside its protective shell in defence. The lions can be seen turning turtle upside down and trying to open it from its teeth , one by one other two lions also tried their luck and they also tried to open the turtle using different techniques , but they can’t win with the firm turtle .
Mr Mohan tells that this happened for around 20 – 25 minutes , once the lion left the turtle stuck out its head and legs . The turtle than proudly moved towards the water