Something has changed the natural behavior of the monkeys living around the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
The APSARA National Authority, which manages the famed archaeological site, has reportedly warned visitors that the macaques native to the region have grown increasingly "aggressive," developing a tendency to "steal food and cause injuries among people."
The suspected cause of this alarming rise in menacing monkey business is another species of unruly primates: YouTubers.
Tourists aiming for eye-catching videos to post on YouTube, TikTok, and other social media platforms have been feeding the monkeys, authorities say, in order to get the animals in clips. That foolhardy move has trained the macaques to regard humans as food sources, and the creatures are willing to bite and claw at people regarded as withholding snacks.
See? Social media makes everybody mean.
Still, you can't blame influencers entirely for the problem. Humans coexist with monkeys in many portions of the globe, and friction between them appears to be rising in many places. The marauders aren't always egged on by like-hungry content creators.
Innocent beachgoers in Thailand and day-trippers in Vietnam have come under attack from hungry monkeys in recent months. In South Africa, emboldened vervet monkeys have endangered children and pets in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, while in and around Cape Town people have grown accustomed to encountering baboons raiding garbage bins and trashing cars.
Tourists and residents in India have experienced frequent monkey attacks as well, including in metropolitan areas such as Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, and Varanasi.
Incidents of monkeys biting tourists and snatching their belongings have become so prevalent at the Taj Mahal in Agra that last autumn, security personnel installed "ultrasonic monkey repeller machines" to drive away the animals using sound waves inaudible to humans.
Why Are Monkey Attacks Against Tourists Increasing?
As is usually the case with wildlife, the driving factor behind all this is the search for food.
When animals get used to receiving food from people, the creatures are likely to "lose their fear of humans and become a nuisance," according to an essay by Tracie McKinney, a senior lecturer in biological anthropology at the University of South Wales.
Monkeys that have become "over-habituated" in this way are the ones given to biting and threatening tourists to get at the snacks presumably lurking in purses and backpacks.
Folks who get attacked may not even have offered food to the animals, McKinney explains.
"Monkeys are very smart, have a long memory, and learn from each other," she writes. "Many groups have grown so accustomed to human foods that they have learned to harass tourists to get it."
That's why we all pay when a TikTokker entices a monkey with a granola bar.
Making the problem worse: There are more hungry monkeys than ever due to increased competition for dwindling natural food resources in habitats that have shrunk due to deforestation and other factors—again, mostly caused by humans.
(Tourist standing way too close to a macaque at Angkor Wat in Cambodia)
How to Avoid a Monkey Attack
When your travels bring you to the Tropics, there are some key safety steps you can take to reduce your chances of getting attacked by a wild monkey.
First and foremost, do not feed monkeys. This one should be obvious, considering everything above. You should also keep alert whenever you eat outdoors, because monkeys are notorious for sweeping in undetected to snatch food.
Keep your distance. McKinney and other wildlife experts recommend maintaining around 25 feet between you and the nearest monkey if possible. Additionally, try not to block the animal's exit route or get between adults and their young.
Avoid direct eye contact and don't bare your teeth. Monkeys are liable to regard this behavior as aggressive.
Pay attention to the monkey's body language. If the animal is doing the eye-contact, teeth-baring thing, it could be gearing up for an attack, and it's time for you to quietly get out of there. Don't turn your back on the creature as you leave.
If a monkey starts to attack, travel insurance company Go Insurance advises showing the animal your empty palms to indicate you don't have food—or, if you do have food, tossing it in the monkey's direction to give the animal what it wants (this is one scenario where you don't have to abide by the rule against feeding wildlife). Try not to scream or physically attack the monkey.
If you're bitten or otherwise wounded, make sure to seek medical attention right away. Monkeys can carry serious illnesses that can be transmitted to humans.
