A herd of wild elephants crossed the road to return to a forest in Thailand.

Footage shows dozens of jumbos walking over a highway as they left residential areas in Prachinburi province on October 25.

Local authorities had dispatched wildlife teams to monitor the herd and guide the elephants back into the Kho Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary.

Villagers in neighbouring Chachoengsao province had also reported seeing the wild elephants.

Officials have warned residents not to approach the pachyderms as some of the males were in heat and aggressive.

As of 2023, there are an estimated 3,084-3,500 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.