Instead of living freely and foraging in the forest, many wild elephants in Thailand have developed the habit of blocking vehicles on the road to steal sugarcane.
Wild elephants stealing sugarcane from passing vehicles.
Footage shared by Newsflare on January 16 shows a mature Asian elephant standing by the roadside in Chachoengsao Province, Thailand, waiting for vehicles to pass by in order to steal food. This road frequently sees trucks transporting sugarcane from nearby fields to sugar factories.
According to local resident Au Wanapin, the enormous elephant is nicknamed “the Fat Guy” because it has devoured a lot of sweet sugarcane. It is a male, approximately 35 years old, and tuskless. Despite being a wild animal, it often emerges from the forest to block sugarcane trucks on the road. This is not the only elephant that does this.
Video: Newsflare
Thailand is estimated to have around 2,000 wild Asian elephants living in protected forests. Unlike African elephants, male Asian elephants typically wander alone after they reach over 10 years of age, while females stay with the herd.
Wildlife officials say that these intelligent wild elephants have developed a habit of stealing fresh food from passing vehicles. They do this not out of hunger, but because the trucks contain tastier food than what they can find in the forest.
Asian elephants are currently classified as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. They are the second-largest elephant species still in existence, following African forest elephants. On average, adult males stand about 2.75 meters tall at the shoulder and weigh around 4 tons, while females are smaller, standing at 2.4 meters and weighing 2.7 tons.
In Thailand, elephants are a cultural symbol and are protected; poachers can face prison sentences of up to three years.
