Crab-Eating Macaque

Crab-Eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Observed: Koh Chang, December 2015
Observed By: Jonathan Milnes, David Vinot, Everyone!

You can’t miss Koh Chang’s macaque monkeys, they seem to be everywhere. But this didn’t used to be the case. There are two possible reasons for this. Firstly they might have been hunted for food back in the days before National Park protection. Secondly these monkeys are a species that is an opportunitsic hunter and scavenger that adapts very well to living off the waste that comes with human development. So whilst it is a species that is native to Koh Chang’s environment numbers have grown rapidly around the tourist centres of Koh Chang as the source of food around here is abundant.

This species of Macaque, also known as the Long-tailed Mazaque for obvious reasons, is plentiful and not at all threatened precisely because of this affinity with human environments. In fact they can be something of a pest and you most definitely shouldn’t feed them. Here’s why;

– Crab-eating Macaques are quite at home on Koh Chang and have no problem acquiring their own food
– Monkeys are wild animals, not pets
– They bite
– They can also carry rabies and other deadly diseases
– They are often run over by cars
– The Jungle Book was a Disney cartoon not a documentary

So be very careful around these Monkeys, enjoy watching them but keep your distance. Imagine there was a wild tiger standing next to you, or an angry King Cobra, or a pack of rats. Or all three.

Crab-Eating Macaque Elephant Wikipedia