A STOMPer, who spotted these monkeys at Toh Tuck Road, sent in these pictures of the monkeys chatting and eating bananas freshly picked from a banana tree there.
The fruit trees were left behind by squatters who used to occupy the area, he says.
In an email dated March 1, he says:
"These pictures were taken at the forest near the junction of Toh Tuck Road and Toh Tuck Rise.
"As I was passing the place, I heard the noise of monkeys and decided to snap these pictures.
"I saw two long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) on a banana leaf, eyeing the reddish-brown bananas which were ripe for picking. The food was just too tempting to resist.
"The first monkey plucked one and started eating. On seeing this, the second monkey also immediately followed suit and approached the bunch of bananas.
"They were obviously enjoying the food and chatting with each other.
"The third monkey went to the garbage bin near the bus stop and started rummaging for discarded food.
"Finding none, he sat on the railings behind the bus stop. Suddenly it heard the commotion on the banana tree and on looking up, it saw its two friends enjoying the ripe bananas.
"He decided to join them in the feast as there were enough bananas to go round."
"This location was previously occupied by squatters and when they moved out left behind the durian and banana trees.
"However, the residents of Toh Tuck Crescent and Toh Tuck Walk found these monkeys a nuisance as the latter used to conduct unannounced raids on their homes.
"The burgeoning population of monkeys is a cause for concern as they sometimes resort to attacking commuters who are waiting at the bus stop."
Related posts: Monkey romps all the way to Thomson Road for his lunch (4th March 2009)
Hungry monkey scours rubbish bin for food (5th January 2009)
The area mentioned in the post is very close to Bukit Batok Nature Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, so I'm not surprised that macaques can be found wandering around the neighbourhood.
