A motorcyclist traveling through Khao Yai National Park in Thailand found himself on the wrong side of the herd, when a pack of angry elephants charged his noisy motorbike. The elephants were agitated due to a group of motorists that had sped through the same area moments earlier, and by the time this guy was riding through, the herd had decided that enough was enough.
You can hear the anger in the elephants’ terrifying call. Their tails stand pointed and erect as a warning sign, their ears flapping towards the biker as an act of intimidation. The man bails from his bike and runs into the forest as the elephants charged, and waits for them to disperse before retrieving his bike—he was lucky to have made it out unharmed.
Tourists visiting the park are encouraged to rent a motorcycle to get around, as it is one of the better modes of transportation available. The result is an influx of people riding around on noisy bikes, much to the frustration of the local wildlife—not to mention the danger motorcycles present to both their riders and the animals running about the forest.
In an interview with The Dodo, Chris Draper of the Born Free Foundation noted that elephants have a strong sensitivity to sound, and that it should be of no surprise that the elephants would react in this way to the noise caused by the motorcycle. The Khao Yai News reported the event on their Facebook page, calling for a ban on motorbikes in the national park.