Brave Mongoose Battles Four Hungry Lions [VIDEO]

As great American author Mark Twain once said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

This could not be truer for the mongoose.

In a sort of David and Goliath story, one of these tiny, terrestrial mammals took on four hungry lions in Kenya's Masaai Mara National Park. Videographer Jerome Guillaumot captured the face-off in 2011, but only recently released the footage online.

[Credit: Barcroft TV]

The very definition of courage, the mongoose in the video repeatedly bares its teeth, emitting squeals and shouts as it charges the surrounding four lions. Bewildered by this outburst of aggression, the lions back off, giving the plucky mongoose enough time to escape back to its burrow.

However, rather than staying safely under the surface, the mongoose reemerges to mount a second attack. Ultimately it scares off the still starving lions, living to fight another day.

Mongooses, notes National Geographic, are famously brave animals. Some species have even been known to attack venomous cobras, and, like the one above, can hold their own in a fight.

Ranging in size from the 7-inch-long (18-centimeter-long) dwarf mongoose to the 2-foot-long (60-centimeter-long) Egyptian mongoose, these sleek mammals have long bodies with short legs and tapered snouts. They are primarily found in Africa, although some species occupy parts of southern Asia and the Iberian Peninsula.

These brown-furred mammals feed on small animals such as rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, and worms. Some species supplement their diet with fruits, nuts, and seeds.

Mongooses were introduced to several islands in Hawaii and the West Indies in the 1800s as a way to control pesky rodent populations on sugar cane plantations. But over the years this move has backfired on various native species, such as birds.

In their own natural habitat, varies species of mongoose are "vulnerable," "endangered" or "critically endangered" due to loss of habitat, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.