The nonprofit Feeding Animal does exactly what you’d think—they feed animals. And, if you had to guess, what do you think they feed monkeys? Well, in one particular clip, they feed them bananas. Dozens of monkeys converge when someone places a whole box of bananas on the ground, and the bananas vanish within just a couple of minutes. It’s pretty funny to watch.
There’s no context in the video caption, so we’re left to guess that these monkeys are rhesus macaques. This species is native to Nepal and lives not only in forests and woodlands but also in urban areas. They live in large groups and sometimes rely on humans for food.
The nonprofit wrote in a blog post that this group of monkeys lives in a small forested area surrounded by a city, and there isn’t enough food for them. The monkeys started stealing food from locals, so the nonprofit tries to make peace by proactively feeding them.
In the video, you can see how much the monkeys want those bananas as they frantically grab up to four of them at a time. (Watch carefully for a mom monkey with a baby clinging to her belly.) The video also shows some of the monkeys eating their bananas up close. It’s strikingly similar to how humans eat bananas.
Watch it here:
In case you’re wondering what else Feeding Animal feeds the monkeys, they’ve also fed them lychees, mango, and apples.
The nonprofit’s YouTube channel shows the monkeys also go bananas for peanuts:
And tomatoes:
While experts say you should never feed wildlife, this appears to be a unique situation in which the monkeys were already conditioned to approaching humans for food. Since the problem already existed, Feeding Animal stepped in with hopes it could alleviate human/monkey conflicts with bushels and bushels of bananas (and other fruits).