Terrifying footage shows the moment an elephant flings a woman into the air after she teased him with a banana.
Filmed in India, the woman is seen holding up the fruit in front of the elephant’s face as it tries to eat it.
However, she yanks away the fruit at the last second as the elephant draws near, seemingly annoying the huge animal.
It then swings its tusks and trunk into the unsuspecting woman and launched her backward into the air.
The video was posted on Twitter by Susanta Nanda, who is part of the Indian Forest Service.
Gaining more than 284.7 thousand views on Twitter, people shared their concerns for the woman but weren’t shocked the elephant fought back.
User @deepakomyogi said: “I knew it when she pulled her left hand to deceive the elephant.
“They are the most intuitive creatures..I am in awe of them.”
Another user, @prasannamsv, added: “Well we have to give respect to the king of forest & stay away from his presence, the real king who made the forest with tons & tons of trees.”
Sidharth Kumar also said: “Hope she survived the attack.”
Elephant attacks are usually rare, and usually considered to be gentle for their size and intelligent.
But elephant-human clashes have been on the rise in India because of habitat loss, and experts say such conflicts could get worse unless forested areas are protected.
More than 1,500 people have died in elephant attacks in the country from 2020 to 2022, with 300 of the animals killed in retaliation, according to government figures.
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