Wild Elephant in Thailand Uses Trunk to Flip Over Vehicle [VIDEO]

A wild elephant overturned a truck along an unspecified road in rural Thailand, halting traffic movement and surprising nearby drivers in the area.

The incident was caught on video which went viral over the past several days.

The unusual incident occurred within the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary in the Tha Takipa district in Chachoengsao province, located around 45 miles east of the capital city of Bangkok.

Wild Elephant Flips Vehicle

(Photo : Photo by MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The viral TikTok video was uploaded by user @tawat4789, who showed that passengers of a separate vehicle was recording the incident where the wild elephant strangely used its trunk to overturn the truck in the middle of the road.

It can be heard in the 49-second clip that a woman was screaming in terror, along with a child and a man in the background.

   @tawat4789 "เจ้าก้านกล้วย" นักเลงใหญ่ แห่งพื้นป่าอ่างฤาไน ดันรถพลิกคว่ำ รอ อาอาหาร #ช่างป่า #อ่างฤาไน  #ฉะเชิงเทรา   #ท่าตะเกียบ #รถอ้อย ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ - ตะวช    

The incident, which reportedly occurred on Saturday, March 4, garnered over 60,000 likes, almost 2,000 comments, and around 4,000 shares across social media.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear what event transpired prior to the recording of the video, particularly if the apparent elephant attack was provoked or not.

However, wild elephants are known for their tendency to be aggressive towards people in some circumstances.

Also Read: Elephant Stabbed Owner to Death After Being Forced to Work in 89-Degree Heat

Wild Elephant Aggressiveness

Elephants are known for being highly social and conditionally peaceful animals, according to the South African National Parks (SANParks).

However, female elephants could be aggressive when young calves are present, and bull elephants can also exhibit violent behavior during a musth, a period of biological conditions where the male elephants undergo aggressive behavior accompanied by a significant increase in reproductive hormones.

Despite their calm nature, elephants also become aggressive when responding to threats, injuries, and other related stimuli.

The large mammals deal with threat or threat or challenge in three distinct ways

First, dominance or threat are displayed by spreading their ears out, raising their heads and tusks high, and swishing their trunks, SANParks elaborates.

Wild Elephant Attacks

In a study published on the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B in 2021, researchers found that the reduce presence of older male elephants is linked to increased rates of aggression amongst young male elephants.

This is in line with the context that males in many large mammal species spend a substantial part of their lives in an all-male group, the paper says.

The research team found that elephants can be aggressive mainly due to the following reasons: access to resources, competition for female elephant sex, and defending territories.

For years, there have been multiple cases of both anecdotal and documented wild elephant attacks on humans.

While some of these animal attacks are provoked, there are instances where attacks are unprovoked.

In 2022, an elephant trampled a woman to death in India.

Several hours later, the same elephant came back for the woman, only this time to crush her body during her funeral.

Also last year, an elephant in Thailand rips its handler in half after reportedly turning violent due to extreme heat.

Related Article: Elephant Tramples Woman to Death, Comes Back After Few Hours to Crush Body at Her Funeral