Thousands of monkeys fight for food in Thailand after coronavirus hurts tourism

Thousands of monkeys from three separate tribes commenced an all-out war in the middle of a Thai city.

Footage of the monkey hordes running around and fighting each other in Lopburi city center Wednesday was widely shared on social media and published by Thai media.

The battle occurred between monkeys from different parts of the province: One tribe holds the territory of a historic temple, another tribe inhabits a nearby shrine and another typically roams around a food market down the street, Thai newspaper Thairath said Thursday.

The primates are normally well fed by tourists, but visitors have plummeted 44% because of the novel coronavirus sweeping the world.

So when one of the primates had a juicy banana, the entire pack roaming around the streets surrounded the creature and tried to grab it.

Footage shows how hundreds of monkeys began tussling for the snack. When one of the animals fled with it, the creatures chased it up a grass bank.

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

Extremely hot weather conditions, which surpassed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), is another reason for the monkeys' starvation.

Lopburi province, around 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Bangkok, is home to thousands of monkeys that typically roam around the city and have become the province's main tourist attraction.

The Thairath report cited Lopburi local Beaw Aum-in, a 65-year old motorcycle taxi driver who has been hanging out with the monkeys for all his life, as saying that it was the first time he had ever seen such a large fight between them.

Thairath also said the monkeys from Lopburi have been known to hitch onto trains to pick fights with monkeys in Nakhon Sawan province, a farther 140 kilometers north of Lopburi.

Thailand has reported 70 cases of the virus, known as COVID-19.