Cartoon the elephant found the best way to relieve an itch was to rub her entire body against a tree.
The 58-year-old Asian elephant scratched thick mud off her ams and legs before giving her head a good rub against a branch in a heartwarming video.
Fiona Hardie shot the footage at the new Samui Elephant Sanctuary in Koh Samui, Southern Thailand.
Cartoon the Asian elephant found the best way to get at an itch was to scratch her head against a branch in Koh Samui, Southern Thailand
She uses the tree to scratch behind her ear, rubbing her jaw against the bark to clean herself
The 58-year-old, mud-covered elephant scratches her whole body against a tree in a hilarious way
Cartoon lifts her front left leg up to scratch her armpit before sliding her whole body down the tree to get at her back leg.
She gives her leg a scratch before turning around to start rubbing behind her right ear.
Clearly enjoying herself with her mouth hanging open, she scratches her head up and down.
She then walks towards the camera, rubbing her head against a branch while scratching her back leg at the same time.
Cartoon starts her scratching session by lifting her front leg up to relieve an itch in her arm pit
She slides her whole body down the trunk before doing the same with her hind legs, making sure not to miss a spot
Australian-born Fiona, who now lives in Hong Kong, said: ‘Other than feeling pure joy, for me, it’s really thinking about how Cartoon must have felt.
‘I believe elephants have the presence of mind to understand their situation. I love that she can just be an elephant, just how it should be.’
Cartoon was rescued from a working life giving rides to tourists and will live out her retirement in comfort at the Sanctuary, with Asian elephants capable of living to 80 years of age.
Australian-born Fiona Hardie, who now lives in Hong Kong, took the video and says she loved seeing Cartoon act so naturally
Fiona runs social media platform Elephant Stories with Fiona, a Facebook page ‘dedicated to the love of elephants as sentient beings’.
She said: ‘I love this video. It gives me the opportunity to witness natural behaviour by observing them, for example, watching them scratch.
‘Every elephant has a story. I love to share this in the hope we can all understand more about these sentient animals.’