Ancient Thai city grapples with surging monkey population

 

It's a Friday afternoon on a Thai public holiday in September, and local tourists are out in force in the small city of Lopburi.
The attraction? Some 4,500 crab-eating macaques that roam this ancient capital's streets, many of which occupy the crumbling Khmer-style Phra Prang Sam Yod -- aka Monkey Temple -- in the city center. The primates not already munching on snacks wait for the tourists to purchase bags of the fruit, seeds, peanuts and -- their favorite -- sugary drinks from one of the vendors that line the parking area, train track and nearby roads.
Patience isn't the macaques' style. Some quickly climb up the tourists' bodies to grab the goodies and run.

Others stealthily rip open the bags that hang from visitors' hands, seeds falling to the ground as their cohorts rush in to grab their share of the spoils.
Nearby, a tourist from Bangkok rushes toward one monkey that has snatched his pair of sunglasses, which the animal quickly drops upon realizing it isn't edible.
But the vendors are used to their tricks, and have ways of keeping them at bay.
"How do we adapt? We just sell our stuff as normal, but when they come close, trying to steal things, we will use a slingshot and pretend to fire a shot," says Anekchart, a fruit vendor near the temple.
"They will just run away. We don't even have to put a shot inside."

Source: CNN