Congo. “Elephants Trapped,” Discovery:

A recent Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Elephants study has found that endangered forest elephants avoid crossing roadways at all costs, trapping these normally far-ranging animals into smaller and smaller territories.

Elephants are very intelligent. Due to horrifying encounters like the above, as well as their viewing poachers on the roadways, they now associate such roads with danger, according to the Public Library of Science paper.

“Forest elephants are basically living in fear of their lives in prisons created by roads. They are roaming around the woods like frightened mice rather than tranquil formidable giants of their forest realm,” said Dr. Stephen Blake, the study’s lead author. “Forest elephants are under siege with all of the graphic images that go with it – increasing the likelihood of fear, starvation, disease, massive stress, infighting, and social disruption.”