This is the astonishing moment brave park rangers blocked an elephant herd from entering a village in Thailand.

Wildlife officers drove to the Muang District of Nakhon Nayok province after receiving a GPS signal from an elephant the were tracking called Plai Sarika as it was approaching the community on April 18.

They arrived on the outskirts of the village to prevent the hungry pachyderms from ransacking the residential area for food.

The officers found some 40 jumbos waiting impatiently near a resort's entrance. Despite being blocked, the wild animals did not become aggressive as they were familiar with the rangers.

The elephants later retreated to the forest without causing any harm.

Wildlife ranger Suchai said: 'The elephants migrate through the forest as they move to new places for new sources of food.

'This time, they were walking towards a settlement, which would have been dangerous for them and the people there. We needed to stop them. They were not hurt and they moved away in a different direction, but we are still tracking them.'

Staff said the creatures usually emerged from the forest to look for food, sometimes wandering into residential areas or damaging farmers' crops.

The elephant population in the area is believed to have increased in recent years due to the efforts of conservationists protecting them. They have also become increasingly attracted to human food as the number of trucks on the road and people living in villages rises.

Thailand is believed to have more than 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild - down from 100,000 a century ago - and around 3,000 in captivity owned privately. In the wild they are seen wandering freely among protected forests, occasionally appearing on the roads that run through them.

Male Asian elephants, unlike African elephants, roam alone once they are over ten years old while females remain with the herd. They are most during mating season from November to January when they emerge from the jungles in search of a mate.

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