STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4

NCSS: Culture • Time, Continuity, and Change • People, Places, and Environments • Global Connections

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PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Lopburi, Thailand, is known for this ancient temple—and its hordes of monkeys. The local monkey population boomed when tourism was high, leaving a lot of animals hungry during the pandemic.

GEOGRAPHY

A Feast Fit for a Monkey

This town in Thailand serves up a massive meal—just for macaques!

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

Every November, people in Lopburi, Thailand, prepare a huge feast. They lay out piles of cucumbers, bananas, melons, and other delights—nearly 2 tons of fruits and vegetables in all. Then the guests of honor arrive: thousands of monkeys! The animals chow down in a clearing in front of the remains of a 13th-century temple.

The people of Lopburi practice Hinduism. They view the long-tailed macaques (muh-KAKS) as a sign of good luck. In the Hindu religion, the animals are a symbol of a deity named Hanuman, the heroic commander of a monkey army.

Sukree Sukplang/Reuters

Guzzling sugary beverages is bad for the monkeys’ health--and amps up their misbehavior.

Lopburi’s annual tribute, known as the Monkey Buffet Festival, is a chance to celebrate—and to attract tourists to witness the action. Unlike the tourists, however, the macaques don’t leave town after the feast. They are everywhere: the streets, the shops, and even people’s homes. Packs of them hang out in the temple ruins.

Their behavior isn’t always fit for the dinner table. Rampaging macaques rip windshield wipers off cars. They climb onto people and snatch food from their hands. And they become even more crazed when they consume the cans and bottles of soda that tourists and food vendors hand to them.

Local officials are trying to curb the macaques’ behavior. Because feeding the animals is thought to bring good luck, officials aren’t discouraging tourists from giving the macaques food. However, they urge them to give fruits and veggies instead of snacks high in salt, fat, and sugar—and to save their biggest donations for the once-a-year buffet.

Question: How have these monkeys become an important part of the culture in Lopburi, Thailand?

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