A wild elephant stopped traffic to steal food from passing vehicles.

The jumbos scared drivers when they stomped onto the road in Chachoengsao, eastern Thailand, last Friday (February 21).

Cautious motorists - aware that spooking the giant creatures could lead to disaster - stopped their cars and waited anxiously.

The elephant grabbed several pieces of sugarcane from a vehicle, not seen in the video.

The pair then snatched several bags from a silver Toyota Hilux pickup truck, which were being carried in the back, and slung them across the road. The markings on the bag show TRS, a brand of salt.

The elephants seemed uninterested in the snacks from the pickup truck and carried on munching their looted sugarcane.

Wildlife ranger Amnouy Artchula captured the astonishing moment near the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, a national park home to hundreds of wild elephants.

Amnouy said that the older male elephant was teaching the younger juvenile, also male from the same herd, how to forage for food from passing vehicles.

She said: "The elephants know very well how to stop the passing cars to get food, even if they are not given permission from the drivers.

''In this case, the older elephant was showing the smaller elephant how to get food from cars. It was probably his son or another juvenile in the herd.''

Amnouy added that the herd of wild elephants roam through nearby forests because the national park is their home. They occasionally emerge on the road when they are looking for food.

She said: "The animals are nice to humans, if humans are nice to them. That is why we ask all drivers not to harm any wildlife, we should live together peacefully."

Thailand has between 3,000 and 4,000 elephants. Around half live in the wild in national parks, like the animal seen in the video, while the others are domesticated.

A wild elephant stopped traffic to steal food from passing vehicles.

The jumbos scared drivers when they stomped onto the road in Chachoengsao, eastern Thailand, last Friday (Feb 21).

Cautious motorists - aware that spooking the giant creatures could lead to disaster - stopped their cars and waited anxiously.

The elephant grabbed several pieces of sugarcane from a vehicle, not seen in the video.

The pair then snatched several bags from a silver Toyota Hilux pickup truck, which were being carried in the back, and slung them across the road. The markings on the bag show TRS, a brand of salt.

The elephants seemed uninterested in the snacks from the pickup truck and carried on munching their looted sugarcane.

Wildlife ranger Amnouy Artchula captured the astonishing moment near the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, a national park home to hundreds of wild elephants.

Amnouy said that the older male elephant was teaching the younger juvenile, also male from the same herd, how to forage for food from passing vehicles.

She said: "The elephants know very well how to stop the passing cars to get food, even if they are not given permission from the drivers.

''In this case, the older elephant was showing the smaller elephant how to get food from cars. It was probably his son or another juvenile in the herd.''

Amnouy added that the herd of wild elephants roam through nearby forests because the national park is their home. They occasionally emerge on the road when they are looking for food.

She said: "The animals are nice to humans, if humans are nice to them. That is why we ask all drivers not to harm any wildlife, we should live together peacefully."

Thailand has between 3,000 and 4,000 elephants. Around half live in the wild in national parks, like the animal seen in the video, while the others are domesticated.