The coronavirus continues to have unforeseen effects on the daily lives of nations all around the world. The Daily Mail reports that the virus is now affecting an unlikely population — monkeys. Hundreds of hungry monkeys fought over a single banana in the central Thailand city of Lopburi. Fears over spreading the virus have left the city without its usual daily influx of tourists, and without the tourists, there is no one left to feed the monkeys (a habit the tourist created after warnings from zoolologists). As a result, two “rival gangs” began an all-out war over a single piece of food.
The Daily Mail reports that one witness to the midday brawl, Sasaluk Rattanachai, captured the whole thing from the shop she works at, remarking “they looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for a single piece of food. I’ve never seen them this aggressive.”
Lopburi is home to thousands of wild monkeys that have made a habit of roaming the streets and interacting with travelers who have come to see the city’s ancient Buddhist temples. The Bangkok Post reports that the monkey population is divided between groups that live in the temple areas and groups that live in the city and don’t generally make a habit of crossing each other’s paths. The lack of tourist activity in the city has left the monkeys hungry, causing them to roam out of their usual territories.
