The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Hundreds of starving monkeys fought over a single banana that was left in the street, as tourists who regularly feed them shun Thailand.

The normally well-fed primates swarmed across a street in Lopubri, central Thailand, after they spotted a fellow monkey holding a banana.

A clip showed the primates giving chase to the unlucky monkey, who was doing his best to stay ahead of the pack.

But, it took a sinister turn as they started to shriek and fight over the measly fruit.

The monkeys are then seen jumping over one another and ferociously grabbing at each other as the battle for the banana escalated.

(Image: ViralPress)

Bystanders were stunned and said the behaviour was totally out of character for the monkeys.

Onlooker Sasaluk Rattanchai, who filmed the banana brawl, said: “They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for the single piece of food. I’ve never seen them this aggressive.”

She added: “I think the monkeys were very, very hungry.

“There’s normally a lot of tourists here to feed the monkeys but now there are not as many, because of the coronavirus .”

Lopburi is a popular tourist destination, where visitors typically feed the thousands of monkeys who live near temples in the city.

Local media claimed the hundreds of monkeys belonged to two rival gangs and had been squabbling over food as tourist numbers to the country plummeted.

It was claimed the two gangs’ territories are cut off from one another due to train tracks that snake their way through the city.

The apparent hunger of one tribe appeared to have pushed them to cross over in the search of food.

But, Lopburi resident Somchai Unakong, 75, told Thai news questioned whether the behaviour could be linked to the coronavirus outbreak.

(Image: ViralPress)

He said: “Did this relate to the Covid-19 virus that is spreading? I wondered.”

The monkey mayhem comes days after troops of primates raided the offices of India’s cabinet ministers and took over the building .