This fully-grown rhino was terrified after coming face-to-face with a cardboard cutout of himself.

The thirty-five-year-old white rhino named Nut had the unexpected reaction in his enclosure in Songkhla, southern Thailand, yesterday (September 22).

Video taken from the site of the pit shows how Nut tentatively approached the figure several times and looked at it nervously.

But each time he suddenly spooked, turning on his heels and sprinting away or edging backwards anxiously.

Zookeepers did the experiment to observe Nut's behaviour and to make World Rhino Day.

The annual global event celebrates the world’s five rhinoceros species and raises awareness of their declining numbers and challenges in the wild.

Poachers targeting rhinos for their horn are one of the biggest threats to the survival of the creatures in the wild.

The Chinese use rhino horn in their traditional medicines by crushing it and mixing it with boiling water. However, once the rhino's horn has been sawn off, they are often left to bleed to death in the wild.