Instead of roaming for food in the forest, many wild elephants in Thailand have developed the habit of stopping cars on the road to “plunder” sugar cane.

Wild elephants steal sugar cane from vehicles on the road. Video: Newsflare

Footage shared by Newsflare on January 16 shows an adult Asian elephant standing by the roadside in Chachoengsao province, Thailand, and waiting for vehicles to pass by to steal food. This stretch of road is regularly used by trucks carrying sugarcane from a nearby field to the sugar factory.

According to local resident Au Wanapin, the giant elephant is nicknamed “the fat man” because he devoured a lot of sweet cane. It is a male, about 35 years old and has no tusks. Although it is a wild animal, it often comes out of the forest to stop the sugar cane truck on the road. This is not the only elephant to do this.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 wild Asian elephants living in protected forests. Unlike African wild elephants, male Asian elephants often roam alone when they are over 10 years old, while female elephants stay with the herd.

Wildlife officials say that intelligent wild elephants have developed a habit of stealing fresh food from vehicles passing by on the road. They do this not because they are hungry, but because the truck has better food than they can get in the forest.

Asian elephants are currently listed as endangered in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is the second largest extant elephant species after the African forest elephant. On average, adult males are 2.75 m tall from foot to shoulder and weigh about 4 tons. Females are smaller, 2.4 m tall and weigh 2.7 tons.

In Thailand, elephants are symbolic animals of cultural significance. They are protected and poachers can be jailed for up to three years.