A wild elephant stopped a passing driver's pickup truck and searched it for food.

The hungry male jumbo sniffed out food in the back of the vehicle and stood in the road to hold it up in the Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province, Thailand, on April 28.

Footage shows how the animal approached the car and rummaged through the cargo hoping to find something to eat while the terrified driver tried to keep still inside.

A patrolling truck of park officers spotted the incident and yelled at the creature to scare it away, but it would not budge so they chased it away with a firecracker.

One of the park officers said: ‘I yelled and honked at the elephant but it was not leaving so we had to throw some firecrackers towards it to make it run away.'

The elephant was seen scampering away to the forest after the firecrackers were lit. It was reportedly unhurt from the incident and the vehicle was not damaged.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild but there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages. A similar number of elephants are kept captive where they work in zoos and are hired out for religious festivals and weddings.

Conservationists even believe that some elephants have even evolved to prefer food from humans driving passing cars over the jungle food.

Staff from the country's National Park - the sprawling area of woodland where wild elephants roam freely - believe the animals have changed their behaviour in response to the food readily available from humans.

Plucking food from homes and cars is easier for them and they are often attracted by the smell and sight, conservation officer Supanya Chengsutha said.