This is the moment a hungry wild elephant wandered into a school at night to search for food.

CCTV footage shows the jumbo ambling near the Ban Wang Hin School in Chachoengsao, Thailand at around 2 am on April 23.

The clever animal used its trunk to nudge open the school gate. It then approached a mango tree, shaking it up and eating the tropical fruit that fell on the grass.

After having its fill, the elephant walked back out of the gate and retreated into a nearby forest.

School director Chatrapee said: 'The other teachers and I live in a house just a few metres from the scene. I was curious why the dogs were barking so loudly, but I was too afraid to go outside and check.'

She added the elephant may have been hungry and entered the school in search of a meal.

As of 2023, there are an estimated 3,084-3,500 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.