Monkeys swarm Thailand in hunt for food normally given to them by tourists

This is the astonishing moment hundreds of wild Thai monkeys starving because of the coronavirus crisis scramble for a piece of food.

The primates are normally well fed by tourists in the city of Lopburi, central Thailand, but visitors have plummeted because of the virus sweeping the world.

So when one of the monkeys had a banana, ‘rival gangs’ that roam around the streets surrounded the creature tried to snatch it.

The footage, filmed on Wednesday, shows how countless monkeys began tussling for the snack. When one of the animals fled with it, the creatures swarm upon it and chased it up a grass bank.

Even locals who are used to seeing the creatures were shocked by their ferocity.

Onlooker Sasaluk Rattanachai captured the scene from outside a shop where she works.

She said: ‘They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for the single piece of food. 

‘I’ve never seen them this aggressive.’

Sasaluk continued: ‘I think the monkeys were very, very hungry. There’s normally a lot of tourists here to feed the monkeys but now there are not as many, because of the coronavirus.’