This is the amusing moment a playful leopard hopped onto a family's pickup truck and gnawed on the cargo bed cover at a safari park.

The spotted wild animal was filmed hitching a ride on the back of the vehicle that was driving through the zoo in Kanchanaburi, western Thailand, on August 12.

It then sat itself more comfortably and - much like a domesticated housecat - begins chewing on the cargo bed's canvas cover before leaping back down onto the road.

Onlooker Arisa Pukhin said the park was an open zoo divided into different zones, with each area being monitored by wildlife officers.

She said: 'There were several wild cats in the 'tiger zone' but one of them jumped on the back of the pickup truck with the back covered by canvas.

'The animal tried to gnaw at the cover for 40 seconds, and the passengers inside the vehicle were shocked and excited.'