Elephants are known not only for being highly intelligent and empathetic creatures, but also for having impeccable memory. They never forget their routes to and from various places, despite the influx of human settlements and construction.

One such female elephant, presumably the matriarch of her herd, took it upon herself to break a Coimbatore highway divider that was coming in the way of her learned route.

Traffic came to a halt on the Coimbatore-Mettupalayam highway while the matriarch and her herd crossed the road, with commuters on pause, documenting the moment on their phones.

This isn’t the first time elephants in India have been known to outsmart barricades (or to cross highways) or enter residential areas with their herds.

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