Now here's an animal altercation you don't see every day (it comes to us via the team at Tinga Game Lodge, who posted it on their Facebook page recently). Tracking down the difficult-to-spot African clawless otter is pretty amazing in itself – but seeing it clash with a leopard makes for one epic wildlife encounter...

Found across most of sub-Saharan Africa, clawless otters usually like to set up house near a body of permanent water, with some nearby foliage for shade and shelter. This one had apparently been fishing when the leopard got a little too close for comfort. Leaping out of the water with its teeth bared, the otter lunged straight for its larger opponent. The cat initially backed off in surprise but quickly changed its mind and retaliated. With a swift swipe of the paws, it flipped the otter on its back and managed to hook in a few claws before the otter pulled off a lucky escape (this is not the first time we've seen an opportunistic leopard take on something unusual ... in our Leopard Fortress series, a rare Cape mountain leopard dines on an aardvark!).