When game reserve guide and wildlife photographer Lucien Beaumont saw 17 lions all converge on one spot, he didn't know what to think.

"My imagination started to race, trying to figure out what they had found," he details on his blog. "To my surprise it was a rather unfortunate porcupine surrounded by 13 lion and four male lions. This is not an ideal place to be, especially if you feature on the menu of a lion!"

What came next was even more surprising: the lone porcupine defended itself against all of them and emerged unscathed.

It all happened at the Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa, with a group of lions known as the Mhangeni pride.

Beaumont says the porcupine began running backwards from any lion that came too close, using its spines as a defense mechanism.

"If the porcupine manages to get close enough to a predator, it does not shoot its quills as many people may think," Beaumont writes. "Rather the quills have micro-barbs, which hook into the face or paws of a predator that may get too close."

Any lion unlucky enough to get hit, or adventurous enough to try taking a swipe at the porcupine with a paw, found itself the proud owner of a painful quill.

Losing the quills doesn't harm the porcupine; they simply slide out and then grow back. The lions for the most part don't seem too afraid of the porcupine, with some even laying down next to it. No doubt the porcupine is absolutely terrified.

After several minutes of trying to get at the porcupine with no success, the pride of lions called it quits and went on their way, leaving the porcupine to live and fight another day. Here's the footage: