A hungry wild elephant stopped trucks to help itself to food along a forest road in Thailand.

Footage shows the jumbo sniffing the passing vehicles in Chachoengsao, Thailand, on January 24. It let a pickup truck pass through when it realised its cargo bed was empty.

However, the creature poked its trunk under a lorry's cover to search for something to eat.

Park rangers were guiding the motorists nearby as the animal pushed through with its DIY checkpoint.

Onlooker Thanakrit Phosri said: ‘A traffic jam built up because of the elephant but it was later returned to normal.

‘The animal decided to leave after a while when the park rangers helped to guide it back into the forest.'

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild where they wander freely among protected forests. Male Asian elephants, unlike African elephants, roam alone once they are over 10 years old while females remain with the herd.

There is sometimes conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages so wildlife rangers are tasked with monitoring their movements.