A mother giving her life to protect her newborn baby.

Lions are obviously the “King of the Jungle” for a reason. These apex predators are at the top of food chain, with no natural predators of their own as they roam through sub-Saharan Africa.

They also play a critical role in managing the population of herbivores like buffalo and zebras, and even elephants and giraffes.

And here we have an example of a pride of lions doing exactly that.

The video shows a mother buffalo attempting to protect her newborn calf from a pride of circling lions.

According to the caption, the lions belong to the Rongai pride, located in the country of of Kenya in east Africa. The mother buffalo had just given birth and was running in the distance separated from her herd when the lion pride started to move in on her and her newborn.

The mother does her best to protect her calf from the lions, and puts up a hell of a fight against the smaller lions. But when a male lion jumps in and hops on top of the mother, it’s game over.

The buffalo falls down, and from there she becomes dinner for the pride of hungry lions.

It’s a brutal example of the circle of life, but also shows the lengths a mother buffalo will go to in an effort to protect her calf.