This is the nail-biting moment an eight-year-old elephant manages beat off a savage attack by 14 hungry lionesses.
The
near-three minute fight - captured on film by safari-goers in the South
Luangwa National Park, Zambia - shows the feisty herbivore surrounded
by predators near a watering hole.
As
the lions viciously set about the tusked mammal - who was separated
from its herd - they begin taking it in turns to leap on its back and
sink their teeth into its body.
Jesse Nash, a
New York-based journalist who witnessed the event, told MailOnline that
he was desperate to go and help but knew that would be 'breaking the
rules of nature.'
'We were on safari as observers, witnessing a cycle of life that is, at times, very cruel,' he added.
In
the video, Nash and other bystanders - including Long Island University
art professor Dan Christoffel, British naturalist Steve Baker and
Australian travel writer Nina Karnikowski - are heard encouraging the
the elephant to 'Go on fight back!'
In
a bid to shrug off its attackers, the quick-thinking elephant darts
into the water. However, the lions don't seem too fazed by the wet and
several of them bound into the shallow depths.
After a
lengthy battle, the elephant beats the odds and escapes unscathed. It
is seen triumphantly flapping its ears, trumpeting and splashing through
the water.
The
gaggle of lions apparently left the scene and found a buffalo for
dinner instead. The carcass was found 'picked clean to the bone' the
next day.
Their
guide, Innocent, said of the incident: 'In many years I have been a
safari guide in Zambia at the South Luangwa, never have I seen anything
like this.
'We were all so worried the elephant would be killed right before us. What a fighter. It fought off all 14 lions - incredible.'
The elephant was reunited with its 60-strong herd the next day.
It has earned the nickname Hercules for its bravery on the battlefield.
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