Doomed buffalo cannot escape as three lions bring the animal down in Tanzania

These dramatic photographs show the moment a doomed buffalo was attacked and then devoured by hungry lions after they worked together to get their next meal.

British photographer Nick Dale, 51, witnessed the intense scene while at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania in April this year.

His sequence of pictures revealed one lion pouncing on the female cape buffalo from behind before two other hunters also sank their own teeth in.

Once the three lions managed to push their prey to the ground a fourth big cat joined for the feast, with one of Mr Dale’s photographs showing the animals lined up and enjoying their kill.

Mr Dale, who captured the images with a Nikon D810 while he was sitting in a jeep a couple of hundred yards away, said it was one of the most dramatic moments of his whole career.

He said: ‘Excitement. That’s the only word for it. It’s so rare to see a kill, particularly one so close to your jeep, that you’re desperate not to miss a moment of the action.

‘Once there were four males involved, one of them applied the coup de grace by suffocating the buffalo, first by biting it round the neck and then over its mouth. The lions all lined up behind the carcass as they began to feed.’

Another male joins in the attempt to kill the female buffalo who is desperately trying to escape the grip of their sharp claws

Suddenly a third lion starts to grab the prey and all three big cats sink their teeth into the buffalo which is starting to fall over

After bringing the buffalo down the hunters are joined by a fourth male and line up along the prey as they start to eat their kill