A desperate lizard endured some nasty pecks to its body while playing dead to escape a hawk’s talons.

Jannette Kotze, 53, was in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa, when a goshawk landed on the sandy savannah next to her car.

Dramatic footage shows that an unfortunate black lizard had been scooped up in the predator’s clutches and was apparently lifeless.

Suddenly the tiny reptile reanimated and sprinted out of the reach of the hawk, which just moments before had been toying with its prey with the tip of its sharp beak.

Jannette, from Pretoria, South Africa, said: “I could not believe our luck. It was only me and my husband who saw this amazing encounter.

“Because Kgalagadi does not have a lot of grass, it was easy to spot the action next to the road.

“When the goshawk landed, the lizard seemed to be lifeless and the bird had its next meal ready.

“But obviously the lizard was pretending to be dead and escaped the talons and sprinted off across the sand to escape.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. I was just in total amazement at nature and what can happen in the wild."

A desperate lizard endured some nasty pecks to its body while playing dead to escape a hawk’s talons.

Jannette Kotze, 53, was in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa, when a goshawk landed on the sandy savannah next to her car.

Dramatic footage shows that an unfortunate black lizard had been scooped up in the predator’s clutches and was apparently lifeless.

Suddenly the tiny reptile reanimated and sprinted out of the reach of the hawk, which just moments before had been toying with its prey with the tip of its sharp beak.

Jannette, from Pretoria, South Africa, said: “I could not believe our luck. It was only me and my husband who saw this amazing encounter.

“Because Kgalagadi does not have a lot of grass, it was easy to spot the action next to the road.

“When the goshawk landed, the lizard seemed to be lifeless and that the bird had its next meal ready.

“But obviously the lizard was pretending to be dead and escaped the talons and sprinted off across the sand to escape.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before. I was just in total amazement at nature and what can happen in the wild."