A daytime showdown between a leopard and a civet is anything but ordinary. In fact, it's downright crazy.

The footage comes to us from Tamsyn du Toit who filmed the encounter recently on the western side of the Kruger National Park and shared her clip with Latest Sightings. An African civet – a raccoon-like omnivore in the same family as genets – is seen sauntering down a gravel road, seemingly unaware of a leopard slinking its way ever closer. The civet appears preoccupied, sniffing the air repeatedly, enticed either by the possibility of a tasty meal or by the scent-trail left by another animal. The leopard nestles into the long grass on the roadside, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

After watching the civet shuffle to the other side of the gravel track, the cat follows, leaping into the undergrowth in pursuit and blowing her cover in the process. A short chase ensues, but the leopard gives up quickly, perhaps a little uncertain of her adversary's defensive abilities. 

Although leopards are opportunistic hunters, it's possible that this cat had not encountered a civet before, hence her circumspect approach. African civets are solitary, nocturnal creatures that usually spend their daylight hours huddled in a thicket for safety. They forage at night for everything from grass and fruit to rodents, reptiles and amphibians. Leopards also do much of their prowling under the cover of darkness and have a widely varied diet, so civets are not off the menu, but it's likely that leopards in Kruger opt for more traditional prey like impala and duiker.

Given the civet's relatively elusive nature and lack of a starring role in a Disney flick, you might not have heard of this rarely seen creature. But you may have come across kopi luwak, one of the world's most expensive coffees. This famous brew develops its smooth, earthy flavour inside the digestive tract of a palm civet, a species superficially similar to the African civet and also in the viverridae family. The palm civet's penchant for coffee cherries and its unintentional ability to ferment them in just the right way for a delicious cup of joe has, sadly, given rise to civet farming – the unethical practice of keeping civets in captivity and force-feeding them cherries. So maybe think twice before buying that pricey poo java.

African civets, meanwhile, have historically been exploited for a different, but equally rear-end related, reason: their sweet sweet musk. African civets, particularly the males, produce a pasty secretion from their perineal glands that's prized in the perfume industry. Although synthetic alternatives have largely replaced the real thing, "civet" – as the musky substance is also known – is still extracted from live animals in some areas, particularly in Ethiopia, a country responsible for around 90% of the world's civet production.

For civets in South Africa (where the clip above was filmed) the likelihood of abduction by gland-milking perfume henchmen is low, but other threats do exist. Civets are sometimes poisoned by landowners in an effort to protect livestock and crops, the mammals sometimes fall victim to snares while trekking down well-worn footpaths, and their nocturnal habits put them at increased risk of being hit by vehicles travelling on highways that cut through civet habitat.