A cranky old elephant tipped over a row of bins while he was searching for a snack.

The 50-year-old jumbo named Plai Dio appeared to have been 'hangry' when he emerged from the forest in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast Thailand, on March 25.

Onlookers watched with bated breath as he tipped over a metal cage protecting wheelie bins then rummaged through the trash to look for food. He made off with a couple of plastic bags containing leftovers - despite being sprayed with a hose to try and scare him away.

Photographer Jin, who recorded the video, said the elephant is 'old but strong'.

She said: 'Plai Dio is old but he's perfect and strong. There's plenty of food in the forest for elephants but he likes to come and take what humans eat.'

Elephants are known for their voracious appetite. The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) found they need to eat up to 150kg of food per day - the equivalent of 375 tins of baked beans

Conservationists in Thailand say that wild elephants - up to 3,500 of them - have even developed a taste for sweeter and richer human food and prefer to rummage through homes and vehicles for snacks, instead of the bland leaves they find in the forest.