In one of the main Central Nature Reserves, monkeys still roam freely, living side by side with humans. The macaques have grown accustomed to being fed, so they look to humans as a source of food. But this in itself is problematic. As the monkeys depend more on humans for food, they venture further from their natural habitat, a phenomenon that has worried experts.

 

There is just not enough space. Essentially, in much of Southeast Asia we’ve seen a lot of habitat loss where rainforest has been destroyed and converted into human settlement. And Singapore is, is becoming, is a very urbanized city, and it’s taken a lot of space. So there is not much space left for long-tailed macaques.

 

We really need to stop encroaching into nature reserves, uh, so we stop building the houses so nearby the reserves, which then causes this problem of the macaques coming into people’s houses and raiding them. And also because these macaques are French species so they live on the edges of the rainforests, so if you keep building the houses so near the reserves, there will definitely be a constant human-macaque conflict issues.

 

He believes the macaques are essential to maintaining the rainforest’s ecosystem and that more should be done to protect them. But while some residents may feel harassed by their furry neighbors, others take it more as a unique opportunity to observe monkeys in the wild, and to see how they adapt to their surroundings.

 

(It is) exactly quite, quite a privilege to live with these monkeys here and it does have its , say, downsides as well of course.

 

Residents living near the nature reserve have to keep their windows closed. And make sure the monkeys don’t recap it with their garbage cans.

 

They know where there is rubbish that might be food, and so the bins have to be left quite securely locked. And some people do that by using bungee hooks. But unfortunately the monkeys are quite smart, and they’ve developed a fantastic technique, where they can rock the bins. So as they fall over, and the contents are distributed to the top near the lid. And then the monkeys pull at the corner, push the little monkeys inside and the little monkeys push all the food out.

 

But the monkeys would sneak up just about anywhere. If at the end of the day, as the sun is setting, you decide to relax with a drink and some nuts. Then beware! The monkey burglars are lurking in the branches, ready to pounce and steal your snacks.