This is the adorable moment an itchy elephant used a long stick to scratch its tummy and ear.

The elderly jumbo was enjoying the fresh air at a sanctuary on the island of Koh Samui, southern Thailand, on December 28.

However, the beast’s leathery skin was feeling itchy and annoying the elephant as it tried to concentrate on plucking leaves from the trees.

With impressive agility, the elephant picked up a long stick and satisfyingly scratched its big belly, before giving its forehead and eat a long scrape.

Onlooker Kornnarachata Techavichitra said: ‘It looked like the elephant was feeling itchy in its ear. They’re just like us. It was so cute the way he used the stick like a backscratcher.’

The elephant was at the Samui Elephant Home in Surat Thani province. The sanctuary has a clinic that cares for elephants with the goal of ‘returning them to their natural habitat to increase the Asian elephant population in Thailand’.