Northern Pig-tailed Macaque

Description:

The Thai's use the Macaque to harvest coconuts from the trees that cannot be reached with a bamboo pole. Today was the first time I have seen them being used to harvest Areca fruits, and luckily for me it was right in front of my eyes in the garden where I live as I was drinking my morning coffee. They are attached by a rope to the handler who gives verbal commands from the ground. There are Monkey training schools here in Southern Thailand, and I have seen them training monkeys how to harvest coconuts by twisting the ripe fruits, but I have this image in my mind of a Thai person jumping up and down demonstrating how to harvest Areca fruit. ( Shown in the video) Some large coconut plantation owners have their own Macaques and smaller plantation owners hire a handler who is paid by the number of fruits harvested.