A hungry wild elephant stopped vehicles 'like a traffic officer at a checkpoint' to search for food in Thailand.

The large male jumbo took over one lane running through woodland in Chachoengsao province while checking out each passing car on March 6.

Footage shows the gentle giant sniffing the cars and then letting them leave after failing to find food. A delivery truck carrying sugarcane had also been reportedly stopped prior to the video where it had taken a trunkful of stalks that scattered on the road.

No one was reported hurt in the incident as the animal was not aggressive towards the motorists despite its hunger.

Motorist Pongsakorn Rodpai said: 'My colleagues and I were driving to work when we spotted the large wild animal standing in the middle of the road. It was like a traffic officer on a checkpoint.

'I had to slow down my car to avoid irritating the elephant. Local officers told me that this elephant has a habit of stealing sugarcane from trucks and is normally calm.'

Local authorities had instructed road-users to drive at a slow pace when an elephant is present while the route had been closed after 6 p.m. to prevent accidents.

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.